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The History of the Fall 

and Dissolution of 

Christendom 



.j^-^ 



BY DR. J. E. THOMPSON 



Nashville, Tenn. 
McQuiDDY Printing Company 
1917 



(.Q^ 

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Copyright, 1917 
By Dr. J. E, Thompson 



SEP 24 1917 

©GU478669 



TO THE BLESSED MEMORY OF MY FAITHFUL AND 
LOVING WIFE, KATE STRICKLER THOMPSON, WHO 
SHARED WITH ME THE TOILS AND PLEAS- 
URES OF OUR MANY YEARS OF WEDDED LIFE, AS 
WELL AS ITS CHRISTIAN ASPIRATIONS, IS THIS 
VOLUME MOST AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter I. Pages 11-27 

The Events of the Apocalypse Are Grouped Together, and 
Are to Quickly Come to Pass After They Begin. (Rev. 1: 1.) 
They Are Divided into Revealed Prophecies and Prophetic 
Events, Measured and Nonmeasured Time. The Millennium 
Is Not Revealed in the Word of God. It Is a Mystery, a Pure 
Prophecy. The Remainder of the Apocalypse Is, as Far as the 
Author Has Read, Revealed Prophecy. 

Chapter II. Pages 28-43 

The Prophecy of Daniel Given in an Image Composed of Four 
Metals Has Never Yet Been Fulfilled. The Word " Kingdom " 
Defined. What Do the Four Metals Represent? 

Chapter III, Pages 44-55 

The Difference Shown in the Four Kingdoms or Forms of Gov- 
ernment, which Are Said by Daniel to Be as Different One from 
the Other as the Four Metals. Their Condition After the Col- 
lision. Their Universal Reigns Are Yet in the Future. 

Chapter IV. Pages 56-62 

The Power of the Fourth Kingdom to Break and Bruise the 
Other Three. Its Work Is in Progress To-day. 

Chapter V. Pages 63-74 

" The Seed of Men." Its Power and Far-Reaching Effects. 
Changes Wrought in the Kingdom of Earth Since It Began to 
Be Mixed with Them. Christendom. 

Chapter VI Pages 75-80 

The Stone Smote the Image. The Causes and Results of the 
Smiting. 

Chapter VII. . Pages 81-93 

The Collision of the Kingdom of God, as Given by Daniel, 
Presented by the Apostle John. The Woman of Rev. 12 De- 
fined. She is the Church of God. The Words " Sun " and 
" Moon " Translated from Figurative to Their Literal Mean- 
ings. 

Chapter VIII Pages 94-105 

The Man Child of the Chvurch — The Wilderness of the Apoc- 
alypse. 

Chapter IX Pages 106-121 

The Beast of the Book of Revelation. His Seven Heads and 
Ten Horns. Christian Union Shown by the Woman Clothed 
with the Sun. Denominational Union Shown by the Harlot 
Woman, Mystery, Babylon. Showing the Beast in a Reorgan- 
ized State After It Falls Beneath the Weight of the Harlot 
Woman. 

Chapter X. Pages 122-133 

" Mystery, Babylon," Defined. She Is Not the Romish Church, 
but She Is That Great City, a Union of Many Spiritual Houses. 

Chapter XI. Pages 134-145 

The Seven Christendom Kings and the Judgment of the Har- 
lot. The Wounded Head of the Beast. The Kingdom of the 
Ten Kings Is a Paternal Kingdom. 

Chapter XII Pages 146-166 

The First Three Seals of Rev. 6 Represent (1) the Man Child 
of the Church Going Forth to Conquer, (2) the Spiritual Wil- 
derness, (3) the Kingdom of the Ten Kings. The Judgment 
of the Harlot Continued. 

5 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter XIII. Pages 167-176 

The Second Universal Kingdom. The Kingdom of the Ten 
Kings Is the First Universal Reign of Democracy. It Is After 
the Fall of a Federation of Christendom Chvirches. 

Chapter XIV . Pages 177-195 

The Two Witnesses Killed in Spiritual Sodom and Egypt. Also 
Where Our Lord Was Crucified. The End of Popular Sov- 
ereignty on Earth. 

Chapter XV Pages 196-203 

The Flight of the Church to a Wilderness. 

Chapter XVI Pages 204-220 

The Wilderness to Which the Church Flees. The Journey and 
Gathering Together of God's People and Their Entrance into 
the Wilderness, a Place Prepared of God. The Wilderness 
Identified. The Desolation of the Wilderness. 

Chapter XVII Pages 221-233 

The Adornments to Be Given to the Wilderness of Edom. It 
Will Be a Place Prepared of God for His Church. 

Chapter XVIII Pages 234-245 

Daniel's History of the Fourth Beast with Ten Horns. The 
Little Horn with Eyes Like a Man and a Mouth Speaking 
Great Things. He Has Never Lived, but Will Live at the Time 
the Ten Horns Exist on the Fourth Beast. 

Chapter XIX Pages 246-266 

The Kingdom of the Medes and Persians, with a Universal 
Reign Under the Two Horns. The Fourth Seal. The Image 
Set Up by This Kingdom. Religious Liberty Abolished and Mil- 
lions of the People of Earth Who Do Not Worship the Image 
Are Killed. By an Effort to Enforce the Worship of This 
Abomination, the Earth Is Made Desolate by One-Fourth of All 
Its People, Some Three or Four Hundred Millions Being 
Killed. The Government Mark of This Kingdom. 

Chapter XX Pages 267-282 

The Last Cycle of the Kingdom or Form of Government Intro- 
duced by the Grecian Empire, and Which God Calls " Grecia " 
and Shows to Be on Earth at the Coming of Christ. 

Chapter XXI Pages 283-299 

Summary and Deducement from the History of the Four King 
doms Which We Have Passed Over in This Volume. 

Chapter XXII. Pages 300-319 

Is a Day in Prophecy a Year? 

Chapter XXIII Pages 320-336 

The Seven Candlesticks Represent Seven Prophetic Churches. 
They Represent Seven Churches with Christ Standing in Their 
Midst. Such a Thing Has Never Transpired. 

Chapter XXIV Pages 337-354 

The Seven Addresses to the Angels of the Seven Chiirches of 
Asia Are to People Who Have Not Yet Lived. 

Chapter XXV Pages 355-369 

Who Are the Angels of the Seven Churches of Asia? They 
Are the People of God, Who Now Bear, Who Have Borne, and 
Who Will Continue to Bear His Message to Mankind. 

Chapter XXVI Pages 370-383 

When May We Look for the Scenes of the Apocalypse to 
Transpire and the Coming of Christ to Reign on Earth a Thou- 
sand Years? 

6 



PREFACE 

In presenting this volume, entitled " The History of 
the Fall and Dissolution of Christendom," it is not the 
author's wish to promulgate any new theory on the 
Apocalypse, nor is it his desire to support any of the 
many old theories. His purpose is rather to present 
a future history of the world and church by a transla- 
tion of symbols and a transcription of the wonderful 
scriptures found in the Apocalypse which were given by 
God to show these things. He does so believing that 
this is the first time any similar treatment of these 
scriptures has been attempted, or that such a history 
has been undertaken. Therefore the reader will find 
that there is a great difference between this volume and 
all other books which are alleged to have been writ- 
ten on these same scriptures. This difference will be 
found to be largely from its use of Bible definitions 
in arriving at the meaning of its figurative words, and 
by this means translating and presenting a natural and 
comprehensive transcription of its scenes. This ap- 
pears to us to be the only way to ascertain what its 
scenes contain. If God has not defined the symbols 
and figurative words used in describing its scenes, 
then it is not a revelation as it claims to be, and it is 
perfectly useless to attempt to read it. No one can 
guess the meaning of any figurative word ; for if he did 
guess its meaning, he would have no way of knowing 
that he had guessed it correctly. We have, therefore, 
put aside all guesswork as to the meaning of figura- 

7 



PREFACE 

tive words, which, of course, contain its symbols and 
hold the description and identification of its scenes. 
We claim no merit for this volume aside from such as 
may have been secured to it by the firm faith of its 
author, which has caused him to trust God to define 
all his figurative words and thereby show the mean- 
ing of every symbol which he translates and transcribes. 

It may be that another one of the causes of the great 
difference between this volume and its predecessors, as 
well as all its contemporary books on these scriptures, 
is the fact that the author is not a preacher. He has 
treated these scriptures just as any ordinary " layman " 
with a little common sense would naturally do, and, 
to use a layman's expression, if he " comes out at the 
little end of the horn," there will be no preacher rep- 
utation for profound thinking to suffer. It is a new 
field on which no prior writer on the Apocalypse has 
yet entered. 

Another characteristic which makes prominent the 
striking difference between this volume and all other 
books purporting to have been written on these scrip- 
tures is that the author has never taken kindly to, or 
looked favorably upon, the universal practice among 
writers on these scriptures of applying the future 
scenes of the book of Revelation to past historic events. 
The reason he feels justified in not doing so is from 
the fact that he has sought to find what each symbol 
represents before applying it. He has been unable to 
find a single scene or event in the Apocalypse, when 
properly translated, that he could prove had taken 
place in the past. He has not seen the proof of this 

8 



PREFACE 

either in the Bible or in any book claiming that this 
is true. 

The author has not written the things he would 
have preferred to find and transcribe from the Apoca- 
lypse; but he has written many scenes of sorrow and 
wretchedness, not from choice, but because he could 
not escape writing them and at the same time claim 
to be making an honest and true history of the things 
written in this wonderful revelation of God. 

We thank the God of the Bible, who revealed these 
things, that he, in his mercy to man, did not reveal 
the time for these fearful scenes to come upon the 
world. We thank him that he has left the time for 
these great events to come upon the world veiled from 
men and has made their advent depend upon the good 
or the evil life of the nations. Man may, or at least 
it is possible for him to, postpone these fearful scenes 
for centuries by accepting the counsel of God and 
breaking off his great sins in wars, cruelties, oppres- 
sion, and destruction of his fellow men. When the na- 
tions of earth accept and utilize the means which God 
has revealed by his prophets, and by doing so have thus 
put them beyond any experimental stage, then wars will 
cease, and they will not return to the world so long as 
the nations of the earth shall remember and honor the 
God who created man. 

The author is pleased to send forth this brief his- 
tory showing the crimson scenes which have been pre- 
destined by God to yet come upon the world as a pun- 
ishment for the future wickedness and violence of men 
and nations. At the same time he rejoices to be able 
to show the hand of God in these scriptures pointing 

9 



PREFACE 

to the means by which these scenes may be postponed 
for centuries. To postpone these great tribulations, 
the nations must learn justice, mercy, and peace, and 
they must exercise them. We speak confidently when 
we say that God has shown the means by which man 
can bring about a world-wide peace; and if he will 
only apply these means and diligently avoid the dan- 
gers God has pointed out, the world will know wars 
no more for centuries. We hope every one who reads 
this book will join in and help this great work for hu- 
manity. 



iO 



CHAPTER I. 

The Events of the Apocalypse Are Grouped 
Together, and Are to Quickly Come to Pass After 
They Begin. (Rev. 1:1.) They Are Divided into 
Revealed Prophecies and Prophetic Events, Meas- 
ured and Nonmeasured Time. The Millennium Is 
Not Revealed in the Word of God. It Is a Mystery, 
a Pure Prophecy. The Remainder of the Apoca- 
lypse Is, as Far as the Author Has Read, Revealed 
Prophecy. 

Who among the hundreds of writers on the Apoca- 
lypse have ever read and really believed the things 
stated even in the first verse of that wonderful 
book? It has been ignored or annulled by many 
who have written books and commentaries on the 
things of the Apocalypse. Yet it is, of course, im- 
possible to hold any position which is out of har- 
mony with the words in this verse and not be out of 
harmony with every statement along the same line in 
the Revelation, or in the Bible for that matter. Why 
should we care what any scripture teaches, so we are 
in harmony with it? And to be in harmony with any 
scripture is to be in harmony with everything in both 
the Old and New Testaments. 

" The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave 
him to show unto his servants, even the things which 

11 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



must shortly come to pass: and he sent and signified 
it by his angel unto his servant John." (Rev. 1:1.) 

The economy of God in the use of words in giving 
this scripture is remarkable. We doubt whether there 
is another expression in the English language with so 
few words which reveals or even states so many facts. 
Every word is literal. None of us can prove a word 
in this verse to be figurative by substituting a Bible 
definition for such word which wnll make better sense 
than the words do as they now stand. This is the 
only way the writer has ever been able to prove to 
himself or any one else when there is a figurative word 
in any Bible sentence. 

This verse makes known the following facts : 

1. The book is a revelation. 

2. It belongs to Jesus Christ. 

3. It was given him by God. 

4. It was written to show things unto his servants. 

5. The things to be shown are the " things which 
must shortly come to pass." 

6. They are, therefore, the things which had not 
come to pass when the book was written. 

7. They are " the things " of prophecy — unfulfilled 
prophecy — for these, like all prophecy, are things 
which must " come to pass." These things are predes- 
tinated to come to pass when God says they must come 
to pass. Nothing but prophecy is predestinated to 
come to pass by the God of the Bible. It always is 
predestinated to come to pass, and it consists of things 
which must come to pass, and nothing else. 

8. The expression, " the things," means all the things 
under consideration, which are " the things " which 

12 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

must come to pass, and which are, therefore, all the 
unfulfilled prophecy of the Bible. 

9. The Revelation does not include a single event 
which had come to pass when the book was written, 
for it was written to show " the things which must 
shortly come to pass." A faith in this statement will 
keep the student of this Revelation from spending 
time in the vain effort of endeavoring to find a sin- 
gle event in the book which had transpired when the 
book was written. Such an event cannot be found. 

10. " Shortly come to pass " covers a short or brief 
period of time. To " come to pass " is to begin and 
end. When qualified by the adverb " shortly," it 
means that when the things spoken of begin they will 
shortly end. This is the use and meaning of the word 
" shortly " in all its proper applications in the English 
language. Every authentic English lexicon so defines 
it. The Bible, the best of all authorities, never uses it 
to cover the full lifetime of a man. The longest time 
embraced by the word " shortly," when the time is 
definitely shown in the Bible, covers just fourteen 
years. Joseph, speaking to Pharaoh of the seven years 
of plenty and the seven years of famine, says : "And 
for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh, it is 
because the thing is established by God, and God will 
shortly bring it to pass." (Gen. 41 : 32.) 

According to God's use of this word, then, we can 
safely say that when the first event in the Apocalypse 
begins it will not be more than fourteen years before 
all its things will have " come to pass." 

11. This expression groups the things of the Reve- 
lation together and anchors their beginning not ex- 

13 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

ceeding fourteen years from their end, which events 
embrace the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven 
and the beginning of his reign on earth for a thousand 
years. 

12. We emphasize the fact that " the things " of the 
Revelation are grouped together, for they are declared 
to be " the things which must shortly come to pass," 
which the Bible shows by its use of the word " short- 
ly " not to embrace more than fourteen years from 
their beginning until their end, which will include the 
coming of Christ and the beginning of the millennium. 
This groups them all near the coming of Christ and 
puts all of them in the future without a doubt. 

It is jusf as certain that not an event in the Apoca- 
lypse has come to pass and that they are all yet future 
events as it is certain that the language of the Bible, 
and God's use of it, is correct. 

We are making no interpretation of our own, but 
this is the use and meaning God has given the lan- 
guage by the way he has used these words throughout 
the Bible. He who reads the following chapters of 
this volume can see the harmony between this verse 
and all the book ; and, if he desires, he can know as- 
suredly that it is correct by a further investigation of 
the scriptures along this line. 

13. As the Apocalypse is a revelation of the unful- 
filled prophecy when the book was written, and with 
full faith in the God of the Bible, being able to express 
himself correctly, and as his words do not show a 
scene in the Revelation to have yet transpired, as the 
reader will see, we know assuredly that not a proph- 
ecy has been fulfilled or was intended to be fulfilled 

14 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

or come to pass since the Revelation was given. In 
harmony with this, no man who has made a claim that 
certain prophecies and scenes of the Apocalypse have 
been fulfilled has ever been able to define the scene 
by the Bible use of words which he claims has come 
to pass. If we do not know the Bible meaning and 
use of the words describing the scenes of the Apoca- 
lypse which we attempt to locate, it is certain we know 
nothing about them and cannot locate them until we 
learn. If we have not learned the God-given mean- 
ing of the words describing the beast of Revelation, 
for instance, how are we to know what we are talking 
about? We, of course, do not know. We can afford 
to believe God, without knowing much about the Apoc- 
alypse, when he tells us that its things, all its things, 
will end in a brief period of time after they begin. 
He tells us this when he encompasses their scenes in 
the meaning of the word " shortly." It does not take 
much knowledge here ; it takes faith in God's word. 

If the student of these wonderful, enlightening, and 
important scriptures will first learn something of the 
scenes of the Apocalypse themselves — what they really 
are — by learning the meaning of the words God has 
used in describing them, he will then be better pre- 
pared to decide whether they are past or future events. 
From our investigation we can assuredly say not one 
of its events has come to pass. 

14. The things of the Revelation being predestinated 
by God and fixed to come to pass shortly before and 
with the coming of Christ, then not a word in the 
Apocalypse except John's salutation to the seven 
churches of Asia is addressed directly to any one liv- 

15 



THE HISTORY OF THE FaLL AND 

ing or who has ever lived since the book was written. 
And yet it is addressed to all Christians in all ages as 
an audience. They were not to engage in or live amid 
its scenes, and yet they have the power and privilege 
to read and learn the things of the prophecy and be 
blessed by treasuring this knowledge in the heart. 
Such knowledge of the future gives light and comfort 
and faith to the servants of Christ, as they by this 
means can look upon the mighty works of the na- 
tions through the ages of the past. Those ages have 
been ages of seed sowing, planting, budding, bloom- 
ing, and growing into full-grown prophetic trees, with 
their ripening fruit, for the prophetic harvest, when 
God, because of the wickedness of man, will send the 
crimson scenes of wretchedness and horrid tribula- 
tions to purify and purge the earth for the coming 
and abode of Christ, at which time wickedness and 
wars will cease for a thousand years. 

Let us emphasize the fact that an intelligent faith 
in the words of this first verse relieves the student 
of the Apocalypse of the vain effort to find any of 
its events in the past, for, as we have seen, God groups 
all its scenes near the coming of Christ ; and the pur- 
pose of God was to show the things which must come 
to pass, and not to show things which had come to 
pass. To do this, his servants, under his providence, 
must and will learn to understand the written reve- 
lation by the time or before its things to be shown 
exist and can be seen. Nothing is more certain than 
that when the events of this revelation begin it will 
only be a few months or years before they end, for 
these expressions do not cover ages and centuries or 

16 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

many years, as commentators on this book have made 
it do. 

Which shall we accept, reader — God's own use of 
this expression or the strained and unnatural use and 
meaning given it by man? If one man has a theory 
on these scriptures which requires an unnatural en- 
largement of the word " shortly " so it will embrace 
five centuries, and another has a theory about the be- 
ginning and end of the things of this revelation which 
requires the meaning of the word " shortly " to cover 
fifteen or twenty or even more centuries, who must 
we believe is correct ? God's use of the word " short- 
ly " in the Apocalypse does not cover much over half 
of fourteen years, according to our reading. From 
the best chronology of its events, we can but regard 
its time as covering but little more than the twenty- 
three hundred days of Daniel. (Dan. 8: 14.) This 
is less than seven years. 

There are some similar expressions in the Scrip- 
tures which, without proper comprehension, appear to 
differ somewhat from the expression under consider- 
ation and to cover a long period of time. Take, for 
instance. Rev. 22: 10: "And he saith unto me, Seal 
not up the words of the prophecy of this book; for 
the time is at hand." The time for what is at hand? 
The time for revealing the prophecy of God is at 
hand ; the time to leave the words of the prophecy un- 
sealed, open, revealed, is at hand. This is what this 
scripture says. 

"And he said. Go thy way, Daniel ; for the words 
are shut up and sealed till the time of the end." (Dan. 
12: 9.) The time for the full revelation of God was 

17 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

not at hand in the days of Daniel. The time to reveal 
all the great events which Daniel sought to know and 
which he and other prophets foretold was not then at 
hand. Many prophetic scenes were left sealed, in a mys- 
tery, until the time for the Apocalypse to be written had 
fully come. When that time had come, the words of the 
prophets were turned into a revelation. To John it was 
said, " Seal not up the words of the prophecy," for 
God's time is at hand to finish the revelation to man. 
With the revelation complete, with the law of Christ 
complete, with all God's prophecy revealed, John next 
says : " He that is unrighteous, let him do unright- 
eousness still." (Rev. 22: 11.) No other revelation 
will be needed by the righteous. No other can help 
the unrighteous. 

" Behold, I come quickly ; and my reward is with 
me, to render to each man according as his work is. 
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, 
the beginning and the end." (Rev. 22: 12, 13.) We 
must stand by these words just as given. They show 
us that the people to whom he here says he will " come 
quickly " will be living at his coming. "Alpha " and 
" Omega " are figurative, and he translates them. All 
other words in this scripture are literal, and no man 
can translate them or substitute words making better 
sense from the Bible use of the words. Because we 
do not understand the meaning of a word or sentence 
is no reason why we should call it " figurative," but 
there is no better reason why we should not call it 
" figurative " than not to understand it. When we call 
a word " figurative," it devolves upon us to prove it to 
be such by substituting its Bible definition. 

18 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

" Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of 
the Lord." (James 5:7.) James was mfallible and 
was not looking for the Lord during the lifetime of 
the brethren he addresses ; but he knew that patience 
ceases with human life, as well as time itself. 

We must and can learn whether or not some of the 
expressions in the Bible are literal or figurative from 
experience; and to do this, we must not forget that 
all the writers of both the Old and the New Testament 
were infallible under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 
When we read a statement by the apostle James, say- 
ing, " The coming of the Lord is at hand," or his 
coming will shortly take place, we may legitimately 
see if it is in harmony with the facts. If James aimed 
to tell those he addressed that the coming of Christ 
in the clouds of heaven to begin his thousand years' 
reign was at hand in his day, then there is nothing 
more certain than that he was mistaken, and, there- 
fore, anything but infallible. But he does not say 
Christ's coming in the clouds of heaven is at hand. 
If he had said this and used these words literally, we 
know absolutely it is not true. Experience has taught 
us this. God made man, and he made him infallible 
in some respects. Man knows the things he has expe- 
rienced in an infallible way, and we say, with all ven- 
eration and reverence, that we believe man is as infal- 
lible in some of his knowledge as God himself is. 
Man knows he ate his breakfast or dinner to-day with 
the same certainty that God knows the same thing. 
To say this is only to magnify and honor God in his 
infinite greatness and power when he made man. It 
was a much greater work of God to make man and 

19 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

endow him with powers to know, and to know infalH- 
bly Hke he does, than it would have been to have 
made man without these great attributes. He made 
man to know, and he does know, that the end of 
twenty centuries, when it first begins, is not an event 
that is at hand or imminent. He knows that human 
language, when charged with a meaning, is infallible 
and immutable, and that the words which express a 
short time do not express a long time. 

Language is and must be standard to be intelligible ; 
therefore a long time cannot be expressed by words 
embracing only a short time. The fulfillment of any 
event twenty centuries away cannot be truthfully said 
" to be at hand." Man, in his knowledge of the cor- 
rect meaning of words in his language, if properly ac- 
quired and if correctly supported and confirmed by his 
experience, is as infallible in the knowledge of the 
meaning of statements when he comprehends them as 
he can be as to whether or not he ate or drank at a 
given time. Then, how are we to harmonize this state- 
ment with the facts? Any view will and must de- 
throne the infallibility of any one which has him teach- 
ing that an event eighteen or twenty centuries away is 
at hand or will shortly come to pass. It is untrue and 
never was taught by inspiration. 

The word " hand " is undoubtedly a figurative word 
as used here. It means " law " throughout the Bible 
where used in a figurative sense. " That a stone was 
cut out of the mountain without hands." (Dan. 2: 
45.) The context shows the church was taken out 
of the mountain — the Jewish nation — without law. It 
was done by God himself by a miraculous process and 

20 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

not by any known law. " To do whatsoever thy hand 
and thy counsel foreordained to come to pass." (Acts 
4: 28.) Substitute the word "law" for "hand" 
here, and it is in harmony with every other scripture 
in the Bible. The foreordinations of God are always 
fixed by God's laws, which are immutable. 

" While thou stretchest forth thy hand to heal ; 
and that signs and wonders may be done through the 
name of thy holy Servant Jesus." (^Acts 4: 30.) 
Peter prays God to heal by extending his hand or 
his law for healing, and, in addition thereto, that 
signs and wonders may be done ; but it is not in con- 
junction with the hand or the law. Miracles are 
without law; healing is by law, but may be hastened 
or executed through the use of law by miracle. 

Then this expression of James, when translated by 
God's figurative use of the word " hand," reads thus : 
" The coming of the Lord is with law," or with the 
time fixed or to be fixed by God's decree in law. The 
preposition " at " denotes nearness or present or with. 
This puts James in harmony with all scriptures as 
well as the facts ; and, like Paul, James shows himself 
to be without any knowledge of when Christ will come. 
No inspired man ever knew when Christ will come. 

When James wrote this sentence, God knew that 
Christ would not come to earth for many centuries, as 
experience shows. Christ says : " But of that day and 
hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, 
neither the Son, but the Father only." ( Matt. 24 : 36.) 

Then if God, as the above scripture shows, did 
know that Christ would not come to earth for many 
centuries, why did he have James to use the expres- 

21 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

sion, " for the coming of the Lord is at hand? " This 
is not true in a Hteral sense, as v^^e have seen ; but it is 
true with the figurative use of the word " hand," as 
we have also seen. Thus, this being a correct expres- 
sion and making known a fact, if man did not under- 
stand its real meaning, it was not God's fault, for 
Christ had made the above statement before James 
wrote this expression and the truth of the figurative 
use of the word " hand " was fully revealed. We can 
rest assured that God has never deceived man that 
good might result thereby to man ; but he can, and 
probably in this instance has overruled any ignorance 
of man from not seeking and finding the real truth 
here, and caused good to come to m.an. 

It shows us the infinite wisdom and greatness of God, 
that he can speak to his creatures when in ignorance 
as well as in acquired knowledge of a fact, and his 
word keep in touch with them in both these as well as 
in all conditions, without its being possible for man to 
truthfully accuse him of deception. God holds man 
responsible only for his opportunities and the talents 
given him and the use he makes of them in the differ- 
ent conditions and walks of life. Thus God could 
bless man in allowing man to cling to a statement in 
misapprehension and helplessness which would ap- 
pear to him as an immediate flaming sword to restrain 
him in the temptations of Hfe. But he blesses man 
with a stronger faith, a purer life, and a clearer vision 
of the goodness and greatness of his Creator as he 
acquires the true meaning of each and every word and 
revelation given him. God knew that the more diffi- 
cult the attainment to knowledge of his word, the 

22 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

higher man would in his heart exalt him ; and thus the 
more reverence, veneration, and honor it would cause 
man to bestow upon his Creator, and the more eternal 
and immovable would be the blessings to man. Besides 
this, God never elaborates in his use of words or re- 
peats by inspiring two or more men with the same 
knowledge. (See Acts 15 : 7-21.) 

Paul denies this statement as here made by James 
as being literal, and he denies the literalness of all 
other statements in the Bible like it. Paul is in 
harmony with all other statements in the Bible 
on this line and is clearly in harmony with the 
facts. He says : " Now we beseech you, brethren, 
touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and 
our gathering together unto him; to the end that ye 
be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be 
troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as 
from us, as that the day of the Lord is just at hand; 
let no man beguile you in any wise : for it will not be, 
except the falling away come first, and the man of sin 
be revealed." (2 Thess. 2: 1-3.) 

We have given the history of this falling away in 
its proper place in Chapter XIX. of this book, and it 
shows that some twelve hundred million professed 
Christian believers repudiate their faith, reject the 
Bible and the God of the Bible, at the time the falling 
away takes place. It will be near the coming of Christ 
in a miraculous age, and it is a thing yet to be. Paul 
did not claim to know when Christ would come from 
the heavens to earth, but he shows the signs which will 
surely precede his coming, and they are all yet to 
transpire. 

23 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

The reign of Christ on earth for a 
Millennium. thousand years is merely foretold, 

mentioned, and it not described; and 
it is, therefore, a mystery, like the prophecies fore- 
telling the setting up of his kingdom were, and its 
history is not revealed any more than the heavenly 
existence. Its duration is stated definitely, and it is 
fulfilled on earth ; and we, therefore, know it will be a 
thousand years of earthly dominion and rule of Christ. 
When God has foretold events without describing and 
detailing them in a written revelation, he has done so 
that men might believe the mere fact that they would 
come to pass, and literal prophecies were not to 
show the events themselves or enable men to under- 
stand or see them by means of the words of the proph- 
ecy when they did transpire. On the other hand, a 
revelation is for the purpose of showing the thing 
with such clearness that when it comes to pass, and at 
the time it exists, all who have read the revelation and 
see the event can know it is the thing revealed. This 
is the difference between a prophecy and a revelation. 
The word " revelation " excludes the idea of a chro- 
nology of past events, for writing the events of the 
past is recording past history and is not a revelation. 
In harmony with the idea of a revelation excluding 
all past historic events, certain expressions in the first 
chapter of the Apocalypse strengthens this meaning 
and places it beyond all doubt that all events which 
were history and had transpired at the time the Apoca- 
lypse was written were completely and clearly ex- 
cluded from the book. 

" What thou seest, write in a book and send it to the 
24 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

seven churches : unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and 
unto Pergamum, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, 
and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I 
turned to see the voice that spake with me. And hav- 
ing turned I saw seven golden candlesticks ; and in the 
midst of the candlesticks one like unto a son of man, 
clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt 
about at the breasts with a golden girdle." (Rev. 1 : 
11-13.) "What thou seest, write in a book." John 
had seen none of the things to be written ; and this 
injunction, therefore, embraced all the things which 
John was to see in these visions and which are written 
in the book. The verb " seest " is future and places 
the act of seeing as a future act. But when John had 
turned and seen this vision of Christ standing in the 
midst of the seven golden candlesticks, the angel then 
says to John : " Write therefore the things which thou 
sawest [which was the angel of Christ standing amid 
seven golden candlesticks], and the things which are, 
and the things which shall come to pass hereafter." 
(Rev. 1:19.) 

These directions to John define and circumscribe 
the things to be written in the book — the things ex- 
isting at that time and the things to exist later. They 
include the vision of Christ standing in the midst of 
seven golden candlesticks, the things which are (that 
is, the things which existed at that time), and the 
things which shall come to pass hereafter. The truth 
we wish to emphasize here is the fact that not a single 
event which had transpired in all the past, prior to the 
time the book was written, could have been put in the 
Apocalypse without the great apostle transgressing his 

25 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

instructions from Christ. He never did such a thing. 
To look for any event in the book which had transpired 
prior to the time John wrote the book is to look for 
a transgression on the part of the great, the beloved, 
and the much-honored apostle. Let us cast aside as 
not only worthless, but as hurtful, each and every 
theory which assumes that a single event which had 
transpired prior to the time the Apocalypse was writ- 
ten can be found transcribed or brought forward from 
its place in the history of past events and placed in this 
book called a " Revelation " without the beloved apos- 
tle being instructed to do so. He was never instructed 
by the Lord to transcribe even the greatest of past 
events. He was never instructed to write in a sym- 
bolic form or otherwise and put in this revelation 
or more than refer to even the history of the birth of 
our Savior or his death and resurrection, for they 
were historic things and of the past and had no place 
in this or any other real revelation. Things once re- 
vealed cannot be revealed a second time. 

Therefore to wait for the fulfillment of the things 
of the Apocalypse, for a knowledge of them, in the 
face of these plain statements of God, is to practice 
the same foolishness that he does who expects to behold 
the future state after death and then makes prepara- 
tion for eternity. He who waits to see these revealed 
prophecies revealed again by inspired teachers, or by 
any other means whatever, or teaches others to do so, 
is proclaiming a vain, hurtful, and speculative theory ; 
and, if successful, he will wake in the great morning 
of eternity in the presence of Jehovah to lament his 

26 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

works, which will be burned like wood, hay, and stub- 
ble. 

The preceding pages present to the reader the 
method the author has pursued in treating all the 
scenes in this volume. There is a multitude of men who 
may not be able to believe the fact that all the scenes 
of the Apocalypse are grouped together, covering a 
short period of time, as the word " shortly " shows ; 
but we do not believe there is one who can show that 
the scenes of the Apocalypse cover a long period or 
that a single one of its events has yet transpired. My 
dear reader, do not accept any man's views which he 
cannot prove by the Bible and which are out of har- 
mony with this or any other scripture. All the scenes 
transcribed from the prophecy into this volume clearly 
show the reader that they are fully in accord with the 
natural meaning, which is the Bible meaning of the 
word " shortly " found in the first verse of the Apoca- 
lypse. 

We will take for investigation in our next few 
chapters the metallic image of Daniel (chapter 2), 
which we will show is yet to transpire and will be ful- 
filled near the coming of Christ, as the Apocalypse 
fully shows, and which is a part of its scenes. 



27 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



CHAPTER II. 



The Prophecy of Daniel Given in an Image Com- 
posed of Four Metals Has Never Yet Been Fulfilled. 
The Word "Kingdom" Defined. What Do the 
Four Metals Represent? 



" Thou, O king, sawest, and, behold, a great image. 
This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness 
was excellent, stood before thee ; and the aspect thereof 
was terrible. As for this image, its head was of fine 
gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its 
thighs of brass, its legs of iron, its feet part of iron and 
part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut 
out without hands, which smote the image upon its 
feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them in 
pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the 
silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and be- 
came like the chaff of the summer threshing floors ; 
and the wind carried them away, so that no place was 
found for them : and the stone that smote the image 
became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. 
This is the dream ; and we will tell the interpreta- 
tion thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art king 
of kings, unto whom the God of heaven hath given 
the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the 
glory ; and wheresoever the children of men dwell, the 
beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens hath 

28 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

he given into thy hand, and hath made thee to rule 
over them all : thou art the head of gold. And after 
thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee ; and 
another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule 
over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be 
strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces 
and subdueth all things ; and as iron that crusheth all 
these, shall it break in pieces and crush. And whereas 
thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, 
and part of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom ; but 
there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, foras- 
much as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. 
And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part 
of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and 
partly broken. And whereas thou sawest the iron 
mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves 
with the seed of men ; but they shall not cleave one to 
another, even as iron doth not mingle with clay. And 
in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set 
up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall 
the sovereignty thereof be left to another people ; but 
it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, 
and it shall stand forever. Forasmuch as thou sawest 
that a stone was cut out of the mountain without 
hands, and that it break in pieces the iron, the brass, 
the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath 
made known to the king what shall come to pass here- 
after : and the dream is certain, and the interpretation 
thereof sure." (Dan. 2: 31-45.) 

We shall treat the image in this vision as though 
Daniel had told us it was the image of a man, for it 
has all the parts of a human body. Arms are never 

29 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

said in the Bible to belong to any animate thing ex- 
cept a man. We, therefore, conclude that the image 
seen by Nebuchadnezzar was the image of a man, and 
we "shall regard it as such in this book. 

What is the image of man? The image of man is 
the union of all the visible — and, therefore, external 
and material — ^parts of a man into a body in the exact 
shape of a man. All images are without spirit or 
life. They are always inanimate. If the image of a 
man had life, it would be a man or a supernatural 
thing. When Nebuchadnezzar saw this image of a 
man, he saw the gold, the silver, the brass, the iron, 
and the clay united into one body, in the exact shape 
of a man, without spirit or life ; for it takes the union 
of all the external and visible parts of a man to make 
such an image. The head, the breast and arms, the 
belly and thighs, and the feet and legs entered into 
and composed the image. The failure of any one of 
these parts to be present in union with the other parts 
would destroy the image. For a number of things or 
parts to make one image, like this image, they must be 
united into one body. 

If it is true that an image must exist with all its 
parts in union to be the image of a thing which has 
but one body, then the thing represented is the same 
way ; it must exist with a bodily union of all its parts 
to be like its image. This is as true as it is true that 
human language has a fixed meaning. 

God himself saw the importance of his people com- 
prehending the fact that the union of all these parts 
into one body composed the image of this vision, and 
that, therefore, the four kingdoms would be in as per- 

30 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

feet union as the parts of the image representing their 
union. He has emphasized the fact that all four of the 
metals were in union and composed the body of the 
image at the time it is smitten by the stone from the 
mountain, and that that union was as perfect and com- 
plete as the union of the different parts of a human 
body is perfect. He says : " Thou sawest till that a 
stone was cut out without hands, which smote the 
image upon its feet that were of iron and clay, and 
brake them to pieces ; then was the iron, the clay, the 
brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces to- 
gether." (Dan. 2: 34.) This is a plain statement 
that they were together. Daniel says plainly that the 
stone smote the image — it smote the image, the whole 
image — and it smote the image on the feet. He next 
says that all these parts were broken to pieces to- 
gether. He tells us that the gold, as well as the 
iron and clay, the brass and silver, were all smitten 
by the same thing at the same time, and they were 
broken to pieces together at the very time they 
were smitten. God tells us that all the parts of an 
image must be in union to make an image. He does 
so by telling us that man is an image. (Gen. 1 : 27.) 
We all know that all the parts of a man are in union ; 
otherwise he would not be a man or an image. The 
kingdoms which the metals represent must be the same 
way to fulfill this prophecy. We may by our theories 
locate this collision between the stone and the image 
in the past, but we will never be able to sustain our 
conclusion, except by showing that the four king- 
doms, like the four metals, all existed in a feder- 
ation, and thus were united into one body, or image, 

31 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

at that very time. This is the proof which points to 
the time of this great event with an unerring and 
unmistakable certainty, for this was the very object 
of God in giving the image of this vision. It was 
to show the condition of the kingdoms of earth at 
the time they would be smitten by the kingdom of God 
by showing the exact relations that would exist among 
the four kingdoms at that important and particular 
time. It foretells a federation that will exist between 
the four kingdoms, and thereby shows the exact con- 
ditions of all the kingdoms of the world when the 
time shall come for the enactment of this, among the 
greatest of human events — the collision of the stone 
with the image — the collision of the kingdom of God 
with the kingdoms of earth. Yet, in contradiction of 
all these facts, it is said the four great dynasties, 
which preceded the coming of Christ and the setting 
up of the kingdom of God, formed this image. These 
four dynasties were, first, the Babylonian empire, un- 
der its several kings ; second, the Medo-Persian em- 
pire, under its kings; third, the Grecian empire, with 
its kings; and, fourth, the Roman empire, with its 
kings. In the Bible sense of the word any ruler is a 
king, and we in this book so use the word "king." 
If these four dynasties were represented by the four 
metals, then some time during their existence, as well 
as the existence of the kingdom of God, they were all 
in union and made one body, represented by the union 
of these four metals " together " in one body. To 
show that these four dynasties were represented by 
the four metals, we must show that their bodies were 
in union, in a federation under one and the same con- 

Z2 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

stitution, and made one body at some time during 
their existence and after God's kingdom arose. This 
is just as necessary and true as it is certain that Neb- 
uchadnezzar saw a great image, with one body, com- 
posed of these four metals. Nothing but a federation 
of the kingdoms of earth can represent such an inter- 
national union of kingdoms. 

If these four great dynasties were represented by 
the four metals, then it is necessarily true that this col- 
lision occurred in the past; and when it took place, 
then were the Roman, the Grecian, the Medo-Persian, 
and the Babylonian empires " broken to pieces to- 
gether " by the church, and they became as the chaff of 
the summer threshing floors. Where is the history of 
such an event ? When we thus hold to the plain state- 
ments of the prophet and apply these dynasties to the 
places of the four metals at the time of the collision 
and as presented by Daniel, we cannot avoid seeing 
this theory is untrue. Every schoolboy who has read 
the history of these four dynasties knows that they 
never at any time existed together or were ever smit- 
ten by the kingdom of God. Neither were they ever 
smitten by the church either in or out of union. Noth- 
ing but the imagination of man has ever taught such a 
theory. The head of gold, the Babylonian dynasty, 
had passed away some centuries before the Roman 
empire (the iron) arose, and this makes it perfectly 
certain that they never were in union with each other 
or with the other two intermediate empires. There- 
fore these four great local empires were not repre- 
sented by the four metals of this vision. It is said that 
the prophet intended to teach that " the four kingdoms 

3 ^^ 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

would merge one into another," and thereby continue 
to exist together in some unexplainable union. This 
is a pure invention. It is an act of the imagination 
endeavoring to apply the metals to the wrong things. 
There is nothing more certain than that, if Daniel in- 
tended to teach such a lesson, he made a complete 
failure, for he never used a word or expression which 
contains this idea. He does not show the head of gold 
merging into the breast and arms of silver, neither 
does he show the breast and arms of silver merging 
into the belly and thighs of brass or the belly and 
thighs merging into the feet and legs of iron. Neither 
did these dynasties do this. Neither is it in the nature 
of an image of metals or any other material body to 
disappear from earth by such a process. But, on the 
contrary, he shows the gold remaining gold to the end ; 
and so on with each metal, all existing together at 
one and the same time and becoming as the chaff of the 
summer threshing floors "together." He shows the 
head existing as gold with the other metals at the very 
time the feet existed. This theory is not in harmony 
with a single fact stated in the vision, and we can but 
regard it as purely a lesson from the imagination. 
This statement is stoutly affirmed by many schools and 
colleges attempting to teach these scriptures. It is 
true that Daniel says the things represented by the 
four metals and the stone and called " kingdoms " 
were to arise at different times, and he also says that 
the image composed of the four kingdoms was to be 
broken to pieces while existing as an image after the 
fifth, the kingdom of God, arose. He does not say 

34 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

when this is to take place — does not set the time for 
this union, or this collision. 

This merging theory has been accepted and taught 
by many good men, but it is entirely out of harmony 
with the words and figures used by the prophet. 
Take this image just as given by Daniel, and if we 
should see it in reality standing before us in all its 
splendor and terrible majesty, and its head of gold 
should merge or disappear from our view and really 
enter into and become a part of the breast and arms 
of silver, we would be perfectly astonished, completely 
dumfounded. We would doubt our own sense of see- 
ing. We would know we had seen a miracle take 
place, for there is no natural law within these metals 
by which such an unnatural transition could take place. 
We would, therefore, know the head of gold had dis- 
appeared by a miraculous process, and so on down 
to the feet; the same extraordinary process would be 
miraculous. If it is a fact (which it is not) that the 
four empires named merged one into the other, then 
it is perfectly certain they were not symbolized by this 
image, for the metals of the image never merged one 
into the other. 

The stone smote the image when all the metals were 
in union, and it smote the feet, composed of iron and 
clay; then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, 
and the gold broken to pieces together, and they all be- 
came " like the chafif of the summer threshing floors." 
Daniel, by this statement, nullifies this theory com- 
pletely. 

Another claim of proof advanced that these four 
great dynasties were represented by the four metals 

'35 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

is that Daniel actually calls two of them in chapter 8 : 
20, 21 by the names of the people of two of these em- 
pires. This is true. He represents the second and 
third kingdoms by two beasts, and calls one " Media 
and Persia " and the other " Grecia." A dynasty is 
always a kingdom embraced in a form of govern- 
ment, and is correctly called a " kingdom." But it is 
equally true that a kingdom is not always the same 
local dynasty or empire. The same kingdom may exist 
in many countries, among many nations, at one and 
the same time or at different times. The word " king- 
dom " may be, and often is, used, as it is here by 
Daniel, without reference to any locality or nation. 
God was to set up his own kingdom at Jerusalem, and 
he did so, and he called it the " kingdom of God." 
That kingdom is the same kingdom to this day, with- 
out any change either in the name, constitution, or 
characteristics, he gave it in that age, even though 
the nationality of the people among whom it was set 
up and established has, like the four dynasties, long 
since passed away. The four kingdoms represented 
by the four metals now exist and will continue and be 
existing with these names up to the very coming of 
Christ, as well as his own kingdom. 

Men have created many theories and proclaimed 
them from pulpits innumerable, and have written es- 
says and books on these prophecies, apparently with- 
out even taking the trouble to find what the prophet 
meant when he used the word "kingdom." When 
Daniel used this word, he had In his mind a literal and 
indelible form of government. When men have writ- 
ten books on this prophecy and used the word " king- 

36 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

dom," they have failed to grasp the prophet's meaning. 
They have, as far as the writer knows, universally 
applied the word " kingdom " to four figurative king- 
doms, four local kingdoms, four dynasties, and not 
to the real kingdoms. Local kingdoms, like local 
churches, are all representative. The people of both 
these kinds of institutions personify and show the form 
and life of the kingdom, and thus make visible to hu- 
man perception the character, spirit, and form of do- 
minion within them, which is the kingdom. Daniel 
used the word in no figurative sense, but he applies it 
here to literal kingdoms, which can exist for ages in 
one or many localities and nations and peoples. He 
applies it to four forms of government. The word 
" kingdom " has not been used in the Bible a single 
time where it does not directly or indirectly refer to a 
form of government. A human kingdom, or form of 
government, to be effective and active, must have a 
ruling head, composed of one or more men ; it must 
have a body, composed of law-abiding people; and, 
of course, all kingdoms, or forms of government, 
must occupy territory. The prerogatives of all king- 
doms are legislative, judicial, and executive. Every 
kingdom is a form of government, and it may be 
embraced in a constitution and form of laws. One 
man may represent a kingdom, and does, if he holds all 
the prerogatives of the form of government or king- 
dom. 

" Thou art the head of gold. And after thee shall 
arise another kingdom inferior to thee; and another 
third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all 
the earth." Daniel here called Nebuchadnezzar " the 

Z1 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

head of gold," and he says the next kingdom will be 
" inferior to thee," and another third kingdom of 
brass, and a fourth kingdom shall arise. He thus in- 
directly calls Nebuchadnezzar a " kingdom." Daniel 
calls Nebuchadnezzar " the head of gold," and tells 
him that the head of gold will be broken to pieces with 
all the other metals. Was the man, the king, Nebu- 
chadnezzar, broken to pieces with the Medo-Persian, 
the Grecian, and the Roman empires, after the stone 
was cut out of the mountain, after the coming of 
Christ and the setting up of the kingdom? There is 
no one who knows anything of the history of this 
man and these kingdoms who does not know that Neb- 
uchadnezzar never lived to see the rise of even the 
Medo-Persian empire, much less the Grecian and Ro- 
man empires. When the last of these three kingdoms 
came on the earth, Nebuchadnezzar had been dead for 
centuries ; and there is nothing more certain than that 
neither his body nor his spirit was broken to pieces by 
the kingdom set up through Christ, or that he became 
" like the chaff of the summer threshing floors " in any 
sense by being smitten by that kingdom. Neverthe- 
less, it is certain that Nebuchadnezzar was the head 
of gold, the first kingdom, the Babylonian kingdom, in 
some sense. It is also true that the thing which Dan- 
iel called " the first kingdom " and addressed as 
" Nebuchadnezzar," and which we define as " a form 
of government," did exist at the time the stone was 
cut out of the mountain, at the coming of Christ and 
the setting up of the kingdom of God or after that time, 
or it could never be smitten by that kingdom. Unless 
the head of gold, Nebuchadnezzar, the first kingdom, 

38 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

or form of government, existed after the kingdom of 
God was set up, that kingdom could never have smit- 
ten either Nebuchadnezzar or the thing he personi- 
fied and which was represented by him as well as by 
the head of gold. Then, in what sense was Nebuchad- 
nezzar the head of gold? Nebuchadnezzar was the 
head of gold in the same sense that George Washing- 
ton, together with all the other officials of the United 
States, was the kingdom, or government, of the United 
States when he was President. The President, with 
the other officials, is often, and correctly, called "the 
government of the United States." They are the gov- 
ernment of the United States in a true, but represent- 
ative and figurative, sense, for they represent every 
prerogative of the kingdom ; and this is just what Neb- 
uchadnezzar did. He was lawmaker, judge, and ex- 
ecutor of the kingdom, as his history shows; and he 
thus held in his own hands the prerogatives of the 
kingdom of Babylon. He was in a correct sense called 
" the head of gold," or the kingdom. One man, hold- 
ing all the prerogatives of a kingdom, is the kingdom, 
or government, in as full and complete sense of the 
word as a body or number of men, holding these same 
powers, are the kingdom. Let the reader remember the 
fact that God has never called any king a " kingdom " 
unless he held all the powers and prerogatives of the 
kingdom within himself. A kingdom is a form of 
government, and its prerogatives may be held by one 
or many men. 

Nebuchaxinezzar was the head of gold, the king- 
dom, in the same sense that the disciples at Jerusalem 
or Corinth or Ephesus were called "the church of 

39 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

God." They, like Nebuchadnezzar, personified the 
form of government, or kingdom, and represented the 
kingdom with its powers and hfe and form of domin- 
ion. These churches, Hke Nebuchadnezzar, have long 
since passed from earth ; yet the kingdom, which they 
personified, is here to this day. 

Every kingdom Avhich is perceptible to man and dis- 
tinguishable from another kingdom must be a domi- 
nating power, with a specific form of laws. The power 
of dominion depends on the body and form of govern- 
ment. The form gives the power and strength to all 
animate things ; and the form of a kingdom, therefore, 
makes, and is, the kingdom in the sense used here. A 
kingdom can, and does, pass from one people to an- 
other. It is handed down and perpetuated through 
ages and centuries. The kingdom of God first came 
upon the earth in the person of its King, the Christ. 
In him dwelt the word of God, which gave form and 
cast to the kingdom of God, and the perpetuation of 
that form has perpetuated, and will perpetuate, his 
dominion. The body of his kingdom has changed with 
the generations of men ; but his kingdom is indelible, 
unchangeable, for it is form and life in immutable 
laws. It is God's form of government. To lose the 
form of laws is to lose the kingdom, for they are in- 
separable — they embrace the kingdom. This king- 
dom was to be an everlasting kingdom, and it has now 
existed through many centuries and has worn for its 
body many generations of people. It has at all times 
been a dominating power, a dominion over men, with 
a body composed of one or more men, and with a 
form of laws which has distinguished it from all other 

40 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

kingdoms and held its life and individuality. The 
other four kingdoms, like the kingdom of God, ex- 
pressed by the same word, the word " kingdom," were 
not to pass from the earth with the people who first 
personified them ; but Daniel here shows us that they, 
like the kingdom of God, are to exist without a change 
of name or characteristic, not noted by him, until they 
are united into one great body and are smitten by the 
kingdom of God. These four dynasties never ful- 
filled this prophecy, but the four kingdoms, or forms 
of government, they introduced into the world will 
yet do so when this prophecy is fulfilled. When 
Christ was on earth and walked among men, the king- 
dom of God was in his person and was among men. 
He was the kingdom. When Daniel said to Nebuchad- 
nezzar, " Thou art this head of gold," he did so be- 
cause in Nebuchadnezzar dwelt the prerogatives and 
form of laws of the first human government recog- 
nized by God or said by him to be a distinct and per- 
manent kingdom. Then when Daniel used the word 
"kingdom," he applied it to a specific and distinct 
form of government, or dominion, and not to a dynasty 
personifying that form of laws. He tells us that there 
would be three other distinct kingdoms which would 
follow Nebuchadnezzar, and they would be as diverse 
and different one from the other as the four metals 
were different one from the other. The difference 
between two or more kingdoms is marked and visible 
to men only by the difference in the forms of the 
government, which exists in its laws and is manifested 
in the life of the people which it rules. The body, 
or location of a kingdom, does not make xhe distinction 

41 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

between kingdoms ; but when people in a given local- 
ity change their kingdom and assume another, they 
do so by discarding one form of government and 
adopting another, and not by moving to another terri- 
tory. The form of government now ruling in England, 
if adopted by the United States, would not be the same 
kingdom that is now in force in the United States, 
though it might cover the same territory and embrace 
the same people. Neither was the kingdom, or form 
of government, of Media and Persia the same king- 
dom used by the Babylonians ; yet the history clearly 
shows it embraced the same people and territory. 
Neither would the adoption of any other form of 
government by the people of the United States destroy 
their present form of government as long as it existed 
in the minds or writings of men. A kingdom cannot be 
destroyed except by blotting it from the minds and 
written words of men. This can be done only by 
superhuman power. 

When Nebuchadnezzar passed away and the suc- 
ceeding kings and people of Babylon were overrun 
by another people, with a different kingdom, or form 
of government, it did not destroy the head of gold, 
the kingdom, or form of government, called " Baby- 
lon," which was invented and personified by Nebu- 
chadnezzar. That form of government, like the other 
three, has been perpetuated and handed down from 
generation to generation. It exists to this day, and is 
strikingly represented by the United States of Amer- 
ica in its provincial character, with one President, or 
king, ruling over many governors, or kings. This 
form of government, like the other three kingdoms of 
the vision, will continue to exist even after the time 

42 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

when it and the other three kingdoms, or forms of 
government, will unite the people of earth into one 
great body, or federation, under their four forms of 
government (though they will exist at that time in 
many localities). They will thus, in their prophetic 
course, prepare the world for a collision with the 
kingdom of God and the fulfillment of this proph- 
ecy. In the sense in which the word " kingdom " 
is used here (and it is the only literal sense the 
word contains) it means nothing but a form of 
government with a body in which a spirit of do- 
minion can dwell. Every kingdom is a form of gov- 
ernment, regardless of the territory it occupies or the 
people who compose its body. We thus find that the 
four metals did not represent four dynasties or four 
great empires, but they symbolized the four forms of 
human government or four kingdoms introduced into 
the world by the first king of each of these four dynas- 
ties. The metals did not represent the people and ter- 
ritories, with their many kings and wealth, in these 
four local empires ; but they symbolized the four forms 
of government introduced by the first kings of these 
four dynasties and which ruled these people. When 
these four great empires passed away, with their peo- 
ple and kings, they left in the world four indelible 
kingdoms, four forms of human dominion, which God 
named from the four dynasties that introduced them, 
and still calls them by their respective names and will 
continue to do so until the coming of Christ. (Dan. 
8: 21-27.) The reader can see that the author has no 
theory of his own on these prophecies, but he is fol- 
lowing the plainest and most literal meanings of the 
words used by the prophet. 

43 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



CHAPTER III. 



The Difference Shown in the Four Kingdoms or 
Forms of Government, which Are Said by Daniel 
to Be as Different One from the Other as the 
Four Metals. Their Condition After the Collision. 
Their Universal Reigns Are Yet in the Future. 



What are the characteristics, the distinctive fea- 
tures, of the four forms of government which could 
be said to be as different from each other as the four 
metals of the image which represented them? We 
note only a few of the characteristics of each kingdom. 

The first form of government introduced by the 
first king of Babylon was a sole monarchy, a domin- 
ion of one man, or ruler, over many kings and nations. 
It was a provincial form of government, wherein the 
supreme powers and prerogatives of the many prov- 
inces of the kingdom dwelt in one man. Hence, Dan- 
iel said : " Thou art this head of gold ; " " thou art a 
king of kings." When we call a king a "kingdom," 
we must know he is a kingdom by his holding all the 
prerogatives of the kingdom. " The kingdom of God 
is within you," or "in the midst of you." (Luke 
17: 21.) It was in Christ, the King. 

The second is a division of sovereignty under two 
kings, a dual monarchy, united by one constitution. 
The union is for the support of the whole body. The 

44 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

consular form of government is an extraction from 
this form of government. It has immutable laws, 
which characteristic is now suspended by the power 
of the " seed of men." This was the form of gov- 
ernment introduced by the Medes and Persians, and 
God calls this form of government " Media and Per- 
sia " even later than this time. (See Dan. 8: 20.) 

The third was another form of monarchy, wherein 
the prerogatives of a monarch were shared by many 
great families, now called "the aristocracy of the 
kingdom." This form of government was introduced 
by the first king of Greece, and God has named this 
form of government " Grecia." (See Dan. 8: 21.) 

The fourth, the iron, was democracy, or popular 
sovereignty; and it was different from the others in 
that the sovereignty and prerogatives of the kingdom 
dwelt in the representatives of the great body of the 
people. In this form of government " they of the 
people," the representatives of the people, rule and 
hold the prerogatives of the government. This king- 
dom was introduced by the founders of the Roman 
empire. 

These are the only forms of government ever in- 
vented by man with prophetic notice and predestinated 
destinies ; they are the only distinct human kingdoms 
ever used by the human family since the rise of the 
Roman empire, and they all exist now, and their origin 
and number was complete at the rise of the Roman 
empire. They will continue to exist, subject to their 
many prophetic changes and modifications, until a few 
years after this prophecy is fulfilled. No history points 
to any people whose form of government was not 

45 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

modeled after and partook of the fundamental princi- 
ples of these great model kingdoms. They to-day em- 
brace the people of all the earth under their many local 
dominions, for there is not now, and never has been 
since the beginning of the Christian era, a human 
kingdom on earth that did not, in fact and reality, 
figuratively and personally represent the form of one 
or more of these great kingdoms. From the Baby- 
lonian kingdom to the present day, a period of twenty- 
five hundred years, there never has been but four hu- 
man kingdoms on earth with distinctive power to re- 
ceive prophetic notice. They now embrace, under 
their several dominions, every nation and people of 
earth. In our next chapter we will show some of their 
prophetic changes, which are very great. 

Every local kingdom has for twenty centuries rep- 
resented the fundamental principles of the form of 
one or more of the four kingdoms invented by the 
first kings of the four great empires which preceded 
the setting up of the kingdom of God. The church 
of God has existed since the day it was established — 
has taken its form from the primitive church intro- 
duced and established in Jerusalem in harmony with 
prophecy. All the prophets who have spoken on these 
things tell us that these four great model kingdoms 
which arose before the beginning of the Christian era, 
like the fifth, the kingdom of God, would exist through 
all these centuries and be here near the coming of 
Christ, as we will see later. While they have been greatly 
modified and changed and blended with each other, as 
Daniel foretold they would be, it must be a fact that 
no man or people have ever been able to invent an 

46 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

entirely new kingdom. The United States is a blend- 
ing of the first and fourth. Christendom has inherited 
all the four forms of government, which now govern 
and control the many nations and peoples of earth, 
from her heathen ancestors; and Christendom now 
wears these heathen forms without a fundamental 
change not clearly noted and specified in this vision 
of a heathen king. The dominion of these four king- 
doms reaches from the rise of Babylon to the millen- 
nial reign of Christ. 

That the collision of the kingdom of God with the 
kingdoms of earth is yet to transpire is certain from 
the fact that there never has been an international 
union, a federal government, embracing all the people 
of earth in one body, that could be represented by one 
image. They have in all the past ages composed the 
many bodies of these four kingdoms, and not one 
body, in which these four kingdoms which now rule 
the world and embrace her people will yet be united. 

When this body is formed, for it to be like the im- 
age, it must be an international federal union of all 
the kingdoms of the earth that are modeled after either 
one of the four kingdoms in the image. They will be 
united by an international federal law which will 
bring them into one body; yet each and all will wear 
its distinct form of government. This international 
union, this federation of the four kingdoms, embracing 
their many local kingdoms, will embrace all the local 
kingdoms of earth (see Dan. 2: 3S), and they will 
make one body, for no other union of kingdoms could 
be like the bodily union of the four metals as given 
by Daniel. For two or more distinct kingdoms to be 

47 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

united into one body, with the same difference exist- 
ing as is represented by the four metals, it can be 
nothing but a federation of kingdoms, with each 
holding its own characteristic form of government. It 
is a union very much like the union of the States of 
the United States of America by a common or federal 
law (with a variation of form of laws in each), which 
law will be international and embrace every local king- 
dom of earth that wears the form of government of 
either of the four great model kingdoms introduced 
by the first kings of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia, 
and Rome. 

Another condition shown in this vision makes it 
equally certain that this collision has never yet taken 
place — that is, the condition found in the four metals 
immediately after the collision. After this event, the 
prophet says : " Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, 
the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and 
became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors." 
When the laws of a kingdom which alone unite its 
people are dissolved, they then become " like the chaff 
of the summer threshing floors." When the laws of 
cohesion and union of the body of a kingdom are dis- 
solved and the people are freed from their bond of 
union, they are in a state of legal dissolution, which 
is a state of anarchy or a spiritual wilderness. This 
condition has never yet been fulfilled. There is no 
human language that can describe a legal dissolution, 
or state of anarchy, more forcefully than that used 
here by the prophet to show the result of this col- 
lision. He says, as a result of the smiting of the im- 
age by the stone, that all its parts became as the " chaff 

48 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

of the summer threshing floors." This condition in a 
kingdom is the existence of an interregnum, and no 
human language can emphasize or make this plainer. 
This condition throughout the earth has never yet 
arisen from any kind of antagonism between the 
church and a federation of all the kingdoms of the 
earth. The time of this collision is said to have been 
when the kingdom of God was first set up on earth. 
But there is not the least proof of this, and it appears 
to be wholly an invention. The kingdom of God at 
that time never smote any kingdom ; but, on the con- 
trary, the Roman emperor, Nero, and others, did cause 
many Christians to be put to death. If this event is 
in the past, then the kingdoms of earth were at some 
time in the past united into one body, and they were, 
while in that union, smitten by the kingdom of God, 
and, as a result from that smiting, they went into a 
state of legal dissolution as perfect and complete as 
the legal dissolution of an image of metals is perfect 
and complete when it has become as the dust or chaff 
of the summer threshing floor. Daniel tells us by 
this expression that all the parts of the image were 
dissolved and its particles became as chaflf before the 
wind, which condition is a symbol of the wildest and 
most appalling state of interregnum that human lan- 
guage is able to describe. 

Our conclusions from the plain statement of this 
prophecy are : 

1. That while men may mutilate, modify, and change 
these kingdoms, yet there never has been, and never 
will be, but four kingdoms, or forms of human govern- 

4 49 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

ment, invented by man, with an existence after the 
Roman empire. 

2. That they will at some time after the setting up 
of the fifth kingdom, or form of government, which 
was the kingdom of God, be united into one body, or 
become a federal government. 

3. That at the very time this union is complete and 
all people are embraced in the four kingdoms in one 
union, one body, one image, the church, or kingdom, 
of God will collide with them. 

4. That, as a result from being smitten by the king- 
dom of God, they will become as the chaff of the 
summer threshing floor, or be thrown into the wild- 
est state of legal dissolution or anarchy. 

If these plain statements of Daniel are to be taken 
as true, then there is nothing more certain than that 
these conditions have never yet been, and that, there- 
fore, this collision has never taken place in the past 
and is a thing to be looked for in the future. These 
four kingdoms have embraced, and will continue to 
embrace, all the local kingdoms of earth ; and finally 
all the nations of earth will be united in one body by 
an international union, and during the existence of that 
union they will be smitten by the church in a manner 
Hke the collision of a stone in its descent from a moun- 
tain against an image of metals, and, as a result of that 
collision, they will pass into a complete and perfect 
state of interregnum. 



SO 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

We found in the preceding 
The Power and Extent pages that the first king- 

of Dominion of dom, with a predestinated 

These Kingdoms. life, invented and estab- 
lished by man, was intro- 
duced by the Babylonians; the second, by the Medes 
and Persians; the third, by Greece; and the fourth, 
by the Romans. 

The description which Daniel draws, showing the 
respective power and dominion of each kingdom when 
compared with that of the other, has been taken as an 
effort on the part of the prophet by many commenta- 
tors to show that each of the four empires would 
have a universal dominion on the earth. 

The great dominion of these kingdoms, or forms of 
government, spoken of in Daniel has never yet been. 
The prophet lays down the extent of dominion in the 
first kingdom and then compares the strength of the 
other three to it. He says: "And wheresoever the 
children of men dwell, the beasts of the fields and the 
birds of the heavens hath he given into thy hand, and 
hath made thee to rule over them all." (Dan. 2: 38.) 
The word " hand " as used here is figurative. It 
means " law " throughout the Bible when used figu- 
ratively. (Dan. 2: 34.) It here refers to the laws 
or form of government introduced by Nebuchadnez- 
zar, and it promises that this kingdom, or form of 
government, will, at some unspecified time, occupy 
every country wherein is found men, beasts, and 
birds; that wherever they dwell will be given into 
their hands or come under the dominion of the laws 
of this kingdom. This was said to Nebuchadnezzar 

51 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

when the kingdom of Babylon was comparatively 
small and limited in its dominion. But it pointed to a 
time when it would embrace every nation, tribe, and 
tongue of earth. It pointed to a future greatness of 
dominion which would embrace every isle and conti- 
nent of earth ; it pointed to a future time from the 
present, when the apostle John reveals her as " Baby- 
lon the Great" (Rev. 17: 5), and shows her vast 
dominion at the time she passes from earth to have 
reached and covered every place where the children 
of men dwell or beasts or birds are found. John says : 
"Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a 
habitation of demons. . . . For by the wine of the 
wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen." 
(Rev. 18: 2, 3.) John here shows the time and re- 
veals the actual condition which will exist when Dan- 
iel's prophecy is fulfilled, when the kingdom of Baby- 
lon covers the earth like the waters cover the sea. 
We will all accept God's revelation of these prophecies 
just as surely as we ever comprehend them. 

Such a dominion as this could never exist in a 
world where any other kingdom existed. To unite 
all of the people of earth, existing under the four 
forms of government as they now do, into one great 
federal government, would, indeed, be to inaugurate 
a universal reign as extensive as that described by Dan- 
iel. To unite the kingdoms of earth as they now 
exist, under their several forms of laws, would be a 
union like Daniel shows in one image or body, yet 
possessing four different and distinct forms of govern- 
ment. The first universal kingdom will be Babylon 
the great, and will be modeled after Babylonia of 

52 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

Chaldea. It will be a provincial government, like the 
United States. The head of gold, the Babylonian 
form of government, presides over the body of the 
image, and, like the head of a man, shows the point of 
dominion over the body. Therefore the image of Dan- 
iel represents the dominion of " Babylon the Great," 
and it will indeed .and in truth be great. 

If such a union could be effected among the king- 
doms of earth at this time, its dominion would be 
wherever the children of men, the beasts of the field, 
or the fowls of heaven are found. It would be a pro- 
vincial government. Babylon gave the first provincial 
government to the world. 

It is said that the four great dynasties- — Babylon, 
Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome — held just such do- 
minion when they existed as Daniel describes here ; 
but to prove this statement true, it is necessary to show 
that at the time these dynasties existed there was not 
a man, a beast, or a bird to be found in all the West- 
ern hemisphere, for the dominion of the kingdom in- 
vented by Nebuchadnezzar was to extend " whereso- 
ever " man, beast, or bird lived. God, in his provi- 
dence, has made it perfectly clear that none of these 
dynasties ruled or even knew the Western hemisphere 
existed. Thus the universal dominion of these king- 
doms is placed after the discovery of the Western 
hemisphere. 

The apostle John in the book of Revelation and 
Daniel in another chapter show this great dominion 
attained by each of these kingdoms at a later time 
than the present. John and Daniel both show this 
great Babylon is founded on and upheld by democracy 

S3 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

(we use the word " democracy " for popular sover- 
eignty in this book), and he and Daniel both show it 
followed by a reign of both the Grecian and Medo- 
Persian forms of government. There is no doubt that 
these kingdoms will attain the full dominion the 
prophet marked out for them, but it is perfectly cer- 
tain that none of them ever ruled over the whole 
earth or had dominion everywhere, or " wheresoever " 
men and beasts and birds dwell. This was not true of 
the first dynasties that introduced and personified these 
kingdoms during the first great cycles of these form? 
of government. He who seeks the truth of these 
prophecies or expects to find their fulfillment given in 
imaginary scenes or mythological legends is but chasing 
a myth and applying the revelations of God to fables, 
and his works will pass away before the words and 
light of these scriptures like wood, hay, or stubble 
before a burning fire. 

These universal reigns were to be after every isle 
of the sea, as well as every continent of earth, could 
be brought under the dominion of these kingdoms. 
They could fulfill this prophecy in no way but by rul- 
ing over every island and continent of earth, with all 
existing in one great federation. A federal union of 
all the earth under one ruler, or federal head, could, 
and will, fulfill the prophecy of the kingdom of Baby- 
lon, with its many provincial rulers, or kings. 

Every schoolboy knows that none of these four 
dynasties ruled the Western hemisphere ; and when 
these lands were discovered, in them were found dwell- 
ing the children of men and beasts and birds, with 
every sign that they had existed here for ages. This 

54 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

Statement of the prophet, with the broad and universal 
reign given to these kingdoms, when compared with the 
facts of perfectly clear and undoubted history, pro- 
claim the truth that none of these dynasties ever ful- 
filled this broad reign in their day and time. 

At the beginning of this universal reign the four 
kingdoms will be united, and they will be one body, 
one image, one kingdom, one federal government, 
with the world divided into provinces, with the clear- 
est characteristics of ancient Babylon, and in that 
union they will fulfill all the conditions of the image 
of Daniel and of " Babylon the Great " of the book of 
Revelation. It is perfectly clear that they have never 
fulfilled these conditions in the past by a bodily union 
or by so extensive a reign as is given by Daniel ; and 
this is, therefore, another certain proof that these 
prophecies are yet to be fulfilled. 



55 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



CHAPTER IV. 



The Power of the Fourth Kingdom to Break and 
Bruise the Other Three. Its Work Is in Progress 
To-Day. 

The strength of the fourth kingdom, when con- 
trasted with the other three, Daniel says, would be as 
the strength of iron when compared with brass, sil- 
ver, or gold. " Forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces 
and subdueth all things; and as iron that crusheth all 
these [three metals], shall it break in pieces and 
crush." (Dan. 2:40.) 

Democracy, the fourth kingdom, when compared to 
the three forms of monarchy which preceded it, is as 
iron to brass, silver, or gold. "As iron that crusheth 
all these, shall it break in pieces and crush." As iron 
subdueth all these metals, so democracy shall break in 
pieces and bruise all these monarchial forms of gov- 
ernment. Daniel never at any time shows any one of 
these kingdoms destroyed by another. Neither does 
nor can human history, for they are all here to-day. 
When he represents the four kingdoms by four beasts 
in another chapter, he shows the body of one cast 
down and under the feet of another ; but the form of 
government is not touched except in the particular 
body it wore. The body of one kingdom may be con- 
quered by another kingdom, but God has reserved to 

56 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

himself the destruction of these four kingdoms, or 
forms of government, as a special work for his own 
hands. (See Dan. 7: 11, 12.) One kingdom, or form 
of government, cannot destroy another ; but the power 
of one to modify and change another is certainly fore- 
told by God and demonstrated by their experience in 
the world. One local or figurative kingdom can and 
does cast down and subdue the body of another local 
kingdom ; but the kingdom, or form of government, 
itself is never destroyed. 

When the fourth form of government — democracy — 
took its place in the hearts of men and began to radi- 
ate throughout the world from the seven hills of an- 
cient Rome over twenty centuries ago, the strongest 
and most powerful, as well as the last, kingdom, or 
form of government, ever predestinated to be invented 
by man, assumed its prophetic place on earth. From 
that day to this, in harmony with this prophecy, 
democracy has waged a ceaseless warfare upon the 
monarchies of earth. Not a monarchy that has ex- 
isted since the advent of democracy that has not felt 
its encroachments and renovating power. While there 
is not to-day a form of monarchy on the earth which 
has not been patterned after one or the other of the 
three great heathen kingdoms which preceded the 
fourth, yet there is not one that has not been curtailed 
and encroached upon by the subtle power of democ- 
racy. Not a monarchy on earth to-day that has not 
been broken, bruised, modified, and changed by the 
irresistible power and encroachments of democracy. 
Democracy has withheld the name " king," as well as 
the crown of sovereignty, from the brow of the Presi- 

57 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

dent of the United States, which is probably the purest 
and most distinct provincial (Babylonian) form of 
government now on the earth. In this form of govern- 
ment, when it was introduced by Nebuchadnezzar, he 
was clothed with the majesty, power, and dominion 
of the kingdom. Our President is now a king of 
kings, a ruler of rulers, like Nebuchadnezzar was in 
his day. Yet the power of democracy has stripped 
him of the royal prerogatives of this ancient form of 
government and left him as a living monument to the 
truth of the foreknowledge of God. Democracy — pop- 
ular sovereignty, the fourth kingdom — entered the 
world at its God-appointed time. It has been, and is 
now, fighting its prophetic battles in the human heart 
with the monarchies of the earth ; and they all stand 
to-day, in their broken, bruised, mutilated, and weak- 
ened power of dominion, as living monuments of the 
truth of this prophecy. The strength and power of 
the fourth kingdom has been so great in its dominion 
over mankind that it has broken and bruised these 
kingdoms, as the prophet foretold it would. We see 
its work of conquest still going on throughout the 
earth. We cannot find a monarchy on the whole earth 
that does not show the marks and 1:hanges wrought 
in its ancient form by the power of democracy. The 
kingdoms and rulers who reign in the monarchial 
forms of government at this time do so subject to the 
many changes and modifications wrought by the power 
of popular sovereignty over these forms of govern- 
ment, which, when they were first invented, gave un- 
limited and despotic power to the rulers. When a king, 
or ruler, now mounts the throne or takes his chair 

58 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

of office from the hands of democracy, as he does 
in most of these forms of monarchy, while he 
may be ignorant of the contents of this prophecy 
as pertaining to certain changes and mutilations and 
bruises which his ancient prerogatives have received 
and must receive at the hands of democracy, yet he 
can, without much wisdom, recognize the changes 
themselves. He realizes that his official place is up- 
held, not by his own despotic power, but by the power 
of popular sovereignty— by the power of the people. 

The strength and power of a kingdom depend more 
on the ability of its form of laws to appeal to men to 
accept it than it does upon its power to force its form 
of government on other people by conquest through 
those who have accepted it. For instance, modified 
Babylonianism, blended with democracy, now rules in 
the United States. It received its dominion over the 
people of this country by the fascinations and powers 
it had to appeal to the hearts of the founders and 
people of this country when they chose for themselves 
a kingdom, or a form of government. The fascina- 
tions and attractiveness of a form of government in 
the eyes of a people are the real basis of strength of 
any kingdom, or form of government. The freedom 
of democracy has wielded such power over the human 
heart that it has caused the changes and bruises in the 
monarchies of earth just as foretold by the prophet ; 
and this kind of dominion, exercised by a form of gov- 
ernment over the hearts of men, shows the power of 
one form of government over another. Not only this ; 
but the love of popular sovereignty — the desire to 
rule — in all men gives an impulse to a people which 

59 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

causes a nation under its rule to be almost invincible 
in war with another people under a less free form of 
laws. Democracy offers aspirations and the means 
of gratifying the ambitions of the human heart that no 
other form of government can or does do. The poor- 
est, the humblest of the people may successfully aspire 
to the highest place in the kingdom; while the occu- 
pant of the throne in any form of monarchy, even in 
this day and time and in the presence of democracy, 
reaches his seat by chance and not by personal ability 
or attainments. This characteristic in the monarchies 
will continue to weaken them and make them less es- 
teemed while they exist. Yet God tells us they will 
continue to be supported and upheld by the people, 
by the power of popular sovereignty, by the feet and 
legs, the iron of the image, until they collide with the 
kingdom of God. These are the powers which one 
kingdom exercises over another, and this is the com- 
parative power referred to by Daniel. The attrac- 
tiveness and fascinations of a free form of laws, 
while embracing one people, cause dissatisfaction and 
discontent in another people under a less free form 
of government. It causes the people to encroach upon 
all powers and prerogatives with a view of mutilation 
and a desire to modify or remove them when not held 
by the people. Most of the rulers in Europe have 
long since learned the danger in persistently endeavor- 
ing to exercise their ancient prerogatives in the pres- 
ence and opposition of democracy. They have, in 
wisdom, submitted to the changes, the breaking and 
bruising of their ancient prerogatives and despotic 
power which was held before the beginning and 

60 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

in the early centuries of the Christian era by all the 
monarchs of earth. 

God gave each form of government time to establish 
itself in the hearts of the people of earth before the 
rise of its successor down to the fourth; and when 
that was established, he set up his own kingdom. All 
five of these kingdoms have appealed their claims to 
the hearts of men, and they have existed in the earth 
together for nearly twenty centuries. The minds of 
men have been so thoroughly captivated by the fasci- 
nation of seeking political and civil freedom through 
democracy that the claims and promises of the fifth, 
the kingdom of God, has had but a secondary place in 
their minds. It has hardly been thought that the king- 
dom of God, like the kingdoms of earth, demanded a 
complete allegiance to its laws. 

God tells us that the power of the fourth kingdom, 
or form of government, would break and bruise those 
which precede it. This prophecy has been, and will 
continue to be, fulfilled until its modifications of the 
monarchies of the earth are perfect and complete. 
It^s work of bringing the people of earth under its 
dominion has been a constant success and triumph, 
and it will continue each year and decade to place more 
completely in the hands of the people all the kings and 
rulers of earth, and its dominion will be universal. 
God has shown a time when no king or emperor will 
have a dominion on the earth. (Rev. 11.) We 
honor and worship the God of Daniel, who could look 
down this vast expanse of time and proclaim to the 
world the many changes and conquests of the 
fourth form of government over the monarchies of 

61 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

earth. We honor and worship the God of this proph- 
ecy when we read the history of the changes in all 
the kingdoms of earth written and foretold twenty- 
five centuries ago and see them being literally fulfilled 
through the ages. Whose heart and faith is so callous 
and cold that it does not warm and expand as he 
catches the real meaning of the God of this prophecy? 
Who is it that can read this prophecy and see it literally 
fulfilled, as it is now being done, and not grow stronger 
and better by the knowledge ? None can do so but he 
who fails to comprehend it, and none can fail to com- 
prehend it who will listen to nothing but its word. 



62 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 



CHAPTER V. 



" The Seed of Men." Its Power and Far-Reach- 
ing Effects. Changes Wrought in the Kingdom of 
Elarth Since It Began to Be Mixed with Them. 
Christendom. 

"And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of 
potters* clay, and part of iron, it shall be a divided 
kingdom [a divided form of heathen government]. 
. . . And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with 
miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed 
of men." (Dan. 2:41-43.) 

It is very important that we reach a clear under- 
standing of what Daniel means by the " seed of men." 
This expression is found in no other place in the Bible. 
It is important to know what the " seed of men " rep- 
resents, for it will have an important place in the first 
universal kingdom that ever will exist on earth. Does 
it represent a spiritual or material element? If we 
can find what parts or what constituents of the four 
kingdoms the four metals represent, then we can as- 
suredly learn what the clay, the product of the " seed 
of men," represents. Do the metals represent the 
bodies, the people who composed the bodies of these 
kingdoms, or do they represent the forms of govern- 
ments themselves? If the metals and the clay repre- 
sent the bodies, the people composing the bodies of the 

63 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

kingdoms, then there would be as much difference in 
the people of these four kingdoms as there is in the 
four metals or the clay. Were the people of the Baby- 
lonian empire as different from the people of the 
Medo-Persian empire as gold is different from silver? 
When the Medo-Persian empire overran and con- 
quered the Babylonian empire, was there a change in 
the people made by the transition from one of these 
kingdoms to the other, and was that change as great 
as the difference between gold and silver ? Were either 
the individual and physical bodies or the character of 
the Jewish people, for instance, as different while they 
lived under the Babylonian empire from what their 
bodies or their characters were while they lived under 
the Medo-Persian empire as gold is different from sil- 
ver? If these people were intended to be represented 
by gold and were not changed by becoming part of the 
Medo-Persian empire, then we would have the silver 
representing the things which the gold alone could rep- 
resent. For instance, was Daniel's physical body or 
his character so greatly changed by the transition from 
being a part of the body of the Babylonian empire to 
being a part of the body of the Medo-Persian empire 
as could be represented by gold in one and silver in 
the other? Was there really a change in Daniel in 
any respect, either spiritually or physically? If so, 
was it as great as the difference between gold and sil- 
ver? The Bible student knows that there was no 
change in Daniel whatever by the transition from be- 
ing a part of the body of the Babylonian empire to 
being a part of the body of the Medo-Persian empire. 
He was the same Daniel when he lived in and was a 

64 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

part of the body of one empire that he was as a part 
of the body of the other empire. It is perfectly cer- 
tain that the change; from one empire to the other 
never affected his or any one's individuahty or man- 
hood in the least. Yet if these metals represented 
the bodies of these kingdoms, the change from one 
kingdom to another by the people would have wrought 
as great a change in them as would be effected by the 
change from gold into silver. The same is true of the 
bodies of all four of these empires. A change of ex- 
istence from under one of these empires to that of 
another never affected the people in body or in char- 
acter in any sense whatever. A man living under one 
of these empires and making part of its body was ex- 
actly the same man in every respect under any of the 
others when he was transferred to another by the for- 
tunes of war or otherwise. 

This makes it absolutely certain that the metals of 
the image do not represent or stand for the people 
who compose the bodies of these kingdoms. It makes 
it equally certain that the clay, the product of the 
" seed of men," does not stand for the " children of 
men," as it is sometimes said. The children of men 
are nothing but men. It is equally certain that the 
metals and clay of the image did not represent the 
territory or the wealth of these four kingdoms. No 
changes ever took place in the character of the terri- 
tory or wealth or any kind of material possessions 
of any of these kingdoms when it was taken and pos- 
sessed by another. The lands and houses and mate- 
rial wealth of the kingdom of Babylon remained the 
same under the Medo-Persian empire that they were 

5 65 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

under the Babylonian empire. If these metals repre- 
sented the material things of the kingdom, then, when 
the territory of one kingdom was taken and possessed 
by the other, the lands and all the material possessions 
would be compelled to change in character or sub- 
stance, and it would be with as great a change as there 
would be in a change from gold to silver, brass, iron, 
or clay. Anything short of such a change would be 
proof positive that these metals were not symbols of 
the things stated, for the words and statements show 
that each metal symbolized certain elements of each 
kingdom, and not the things of two or more kingdoms. 
Gold could not represent the things of the Babylonian 
empire after they became part of the Medo-Persian 
empire. Such an idea is not taught by the prophet or 
the nature of the things. The conclusion is irresisti- 
ble that neither the metals nor the clay represent the 
people or any of the material things of these kingdoms. 
While history teaches that each of the three kingdoms 
was overrun by a successor and would have changed 
with a change of ownership if this theory was true, 
yet the immaterial never passed from one kingdom 
to another like the material things of the kingdom did. 
While this is true, it is equally true that if the clay 
represented the " children of men," people or any ma- 
terial things, they could never be mingled with imma- 
terial things. We cannot mingle men with a consti- 
tution and form of laws. We cannot mingle or mix 
men or countries or any material thing with the imma- 
terial parts of a kingdom — the very parts the metals 
represent. The metals, as we have seen, represent the 
immaterial, the spiritual, elements of these kingdoms. 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

which is nothing but their forms of laws — their differ- 
ent forms of government. Men walk and live within the 
immaterial, the spiritual, metes and bounds of a king- 
dom ; but they cannot be mingled with a law, a decree, 
or a proclamation. 

We wish to emphasize the fact that from the plain 
statements of these scriptures we cannot believe that 
the metals or the clay represent the bodies of these 
kingdoms. This is just as true as it is true that gold 
can never truthfully and accurately symbolize the same 
things that silver correctly symbolizes, for gold and sil- 
ver are not the same things. The bodies of these 
kingdoms, the people, were transferred from one of 
these kingdoms to another without a change, like a 
change from gold to silver or otherwise, as we have 
clearly seen. Then these facts make it too plain to be 
tenable that literal men, the generations or children 
of literal men, are the products of the " seed of men " 
spoken of here. It is perfectly true that the " seed 
of men " when properly planted will produce nothing 
but men. But there are two kinds of men, and, there- 
fore, two kinds of " seed of men," known to the Bible. 
One is the literal, fleshly seed of men, which produces 
the children of men ; the other is the spiritual seed of 
men, which produces spiritual men. Since the metals 
and the clay cannot be made to represent fleshly men, 
we cannot escape the conclusion that the " seed of 
men " stand for and represent something that is im- 
material and spiritual. What, then, is that Immaterial 
thing designated by the words " seed of men ? " It is 
simply the word of God, which is the spiritual seed 
that produces spiritual or Christian men. Christians 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

are said to be ''the seed of Abraham" (Col. 3: 29), 
but not in a fleshly sense. It is the " seed " that pro- 
duces certain kind of men — viz., Christian men — 
with which the forms of laws of these heathen king- 
doms mingle, or are brought under the influence of, 
which modifies them. 

The word of God is the spiritual seed for the prop- 
agation and production of spiritual men, as much so and 
as uniformly as the literal, fleshly " seed of men " is 
for the propagation and production of men in the flesh. 
The word of God, when believed and obeyed from 
the heart, will as surely produce a Christian as any 
literal seed will produce progeny after its kind. Since 
the primitive church there never has been found on 
earth a truly regenerated human heart where the word 
of God was not the spiritual seed. It is the only seed 
for the production of spiritual, godly men. The word 
of God is truly the spiritual " seed of men." The 
clay in the iron was the product of the planting of the 
spiritual seed of men ; the word of God in the iron, the 
democracy of human kingdoms. Christ, speaking of 
the spiritual seed of the kingdom of God, says : " The 
seed is the word of God." (Luke 8: 11.) The spirit- 
ual man is generated and born of the seed. " Hav- 
ing been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, 
but of incorruptible, through the word of God, 
which liveth and abideth." (1 Pet. 1: 23.) "Of 
his own will he brought us forth by the word 
of truth." (James 1: 18.) These scriptures show 
that the word of God is the seed of spiritual men, 
through and by which the spiritual man is begotten 
and born. Words are the means of spiritual inter- 

68 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

course between spiritual beings. Therefore, Daniel 
here tells us that the heathen kingdoms of earth would 
mingle themselves with the word of God, which the 
Holy Spirit some five hundred years later tells us is the 
spiritual " seed of men." 

We wish to call attention to the fact that while the 
kingdoms, or forms of governments, are represented 
by the metals, yet the rulers of these kingdoms are also 
spoken of as though they were the metals. This is true 
only in the sense that these rulers personify and rep- 
resent the kingdoms, or forms of governments. Neb- 
uchadnezzar is spoken of as " the head of gold." The 
pronoun " they " in the expression, " they shall min- 
gle themselves with the seed of men," stands for the 
rulers, the executors of these kingdoms. A ruler must 
change or conform to any change of laws to repre- 
sent the laws. For instance, a ruler of a heathen 
kingdom could not be a ruler of a Christendom king- 
dom without conforming his acts to the changes in 
his kingdom. 

Daniel is here greatly honored by the God of this 
prophecy in being inspired with a knowledge of one of 
the very greatest of human historic events — an event 
which even prior to and in our day and time has 
affected many nations of earth as nothing else has 
done during the past ages of the Christian era. The 
prophet points us here to the advent of Christendom 
by telling us that the heathen kingdoms of earth would 
mingle themselves, or mix their laws with the word 
of God, the spiritual " seed of men." We find that while 
the work of fulfilling this prophecy is not fully com- 
plete, yet this seed sowing, in harmony with this proph- 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

ecy, did begin at its God-appointed time and place. 
We find from perfectly authentic history that the Ro- 
man Senate, under the influence of the Emperor Con- 
stantine, did in the early part of the fourth century 
plant the first " seed of men " in the Roman empire. 
In the year 315 A.D. the Roman Senate abolished 
paganism and proclaimed Christianity the national reli- 
gion of the empire. Thus at that time they began the 
fulfillment of this prophecy by beginning the " min- 
gling of themselves with the seed of men." The work 
of fulfilling this prophecy by planting this seed in the 
laws and constitutions of the heathen kingdoms of 
earth has steadily grown, prospered, and expanded un- 
til the time does not appear to be very far distant 
when its complete fulfillment will be accomplished in 
the expansion of Christendom until it will include and 
embrace every tribe and tongue of earth. Thus some 
five hundred years before God defined the " seed of 
men " and some eight hundred years before the first 
seed was planted, God, through his beloved prophet, 
Daniel, did foretell the existence of Christendom. 
This sowing of the " seed of men," when complete, 
will have brought with it the greatest changes in the 
heathen nations and people of earth that has taken 
place since the beginning of the history of the human 
family. The prophecy of God contains no reference 
to anything but the greatest of human events, and the 
change produced by the " seed of men " in the heathen 
kingdoms of earth is probably the greatest of all the 
events recorded in the annals of heathenism. It has 
modified and softened the tendency of the heathen 
spirit in human kingdoms to exercise the powers of 

70 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

despotism ; it has abated and even broken and removed 
the power and possibility to exercise the native pro- 
divity and intent of those kingdoms which was so 
ruthlessly exercised before the beginning and for many 
centuries after the beginning of the Christian era; it 
has in many kingdoms now abolished and broken the 
heathen spirit to shed human blood, as much so as 
the mingling of mud or miry clay with iron would 
weaken and break the native strength of iron ; it has 
effaced the fierce and cruel laws and acts of bloodshed 
so freely used by Nebuchadnezzar in the very form of 
government we have inherited from him. 

This may, under existing circumstances, with the 
whole world at war, seem to be a contradiction of the 
above affirmation; but the very evident presence of a 
humanitarian spirit upon the battle field in the treat- 
ment of the wounded and prisoners shows the influ- 
ence of the word of God acting upon belligerents. 
The Red-Cross work attached to modern warfare is 
but the fruit of God's word. 

The " seed of men," as we have seen, has completely 
suspended the immutable character in the form of laws 
introduced by the second kingdom, Media and Persia ; 
and this spiritual element, the word of God, now in 
the kingdoms of earth, holds all the laws of these 
heathen forms of government, or kingdoms, subject 
to the mercy of man. The spirit from the " seed of 
men " will not tolerate the cold-blooded acts of the 
legislative hall, with immutable decrees against human 
blood, life, and liberty ; but this fixed form of law has 
been weakened and abrogated until the mercy of man 
is now enthroned above all human law where the " seed 

71 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

of men " has taken root. After the colHsion of the 
stone with the image, the apostle John shows us 
the rise of a kingdom with this IMedo-Persian 
form of unchangeable laws. It is placed by him be- 
fore the coming of Christ, and by it every Christen- 
dom elemxnt and institution passes from earth. (See 
Rev. 13.) Many heathen kingdoms have long since 
mingled themselves, or mixed their law^s, with the 
" seed of men," the word of God, and they have 
by that act become Christendom kingdoms. The 
prophet tells us that this element was to mingle in the 
form and show a changed condition and appearance, 
but would not destroy or change the form. The same 
forms of government exist to this day, and they are 
clearly marked by this prophetic element. It, like miry 
clay or mud, when mingled with iron, causes decay 
and weakness in the blood-supported strength of a 
heathen kingdom. 

The product of the " seed of men " spoken of by 
Daniel was distinctly seen and noted by him and Neb- 
uchadnezzar. It remained distinct and visible from the 
time it entered the heathen kingdoms, as shown in the 
image by the clay, until they were smitten by the 
kingdom of God. Not out of harmony with this, we 
will find in the history that before the coming of Christ 
not a Christendom kingdom will exist on earth. After 
the collision of the church with a universal kingdom — 
and, therefore, before the coming of Christ — the king- 
doms of earth will not be mixed with the " seed of 
men." The apostle John shows the last two of them 
to have discarded the " seed of men " and to be as clear 

72 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

of this Christendom element as any of these four 
kingdoms were when they came on the earth. (Rev. 
13: 12; see Chapter XIX. of this volume.) 

Daniel tells us that the product of the "seed of 
men " was a distinct feature in the image, and, there- 
fore, ought to be perfectly characteristic of all the gov- 
ernments of earth from the time they mingled them- 
selves with it until they collide with the kingdom of 
God, when this element will fall with the kingdoms 
themselves. It will never be mingled with the metals 
after that collision. 

The miry clay is in the image when the stone smites 
the image ; therefore the smiting of the kingdoms of 
the earth by the church was to take place after the 
heathen kingdoms of earth mingled themselves with 
the " seed of men," and, therefore, after the rise of 
what we call " Christendom kingdoms," which began, 
as we have seen, some three or four centuries after 
the establishment of the kingdom of God and which 
is not yet complete. Therefore they have never been 
smitten by the kingdom of God in any sense of the 
word ; and this smiting is, therefore, yet to be. 

Let the reader get clearly in mind the fact that noth- 
ing has produced or ever can produce a Christendom 
kingdom except the mingling of the " seed of men," 
the word of God, with a heathen kingdom. Daniel 
foretells and points to these Christendom kingdoms 
some eight centuries before they begin to exist. No 
theory on these prophecies can ever cause man to 
honor the God of Daniel like a clear understanding 
of the words of this prophecy will do. 

That the reader may be better prepared to appreciate 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

some of the scenes of the Apocalypse and see that Dan- 
iel and John give parts of the same scenes, we call 
attention to the fact that Daniel shows a complete sep- 
aration of the church from the kingdoms of earth. 
The separation of the stone from the image, the 
church from the kingdoms of earth, shows us that the 
time will come when all Christians will from some 
cause cease to affiliate with the kingdoms of earth, 
and they will, to a man, be separated from them. This 
is certainly a condition that will exist at the time the 
kingdoms of earth are smitten by the kingdom of God ; 
for in this vision the figures show a complete and per- 
fect separation of the stone from the image, of the 
kingdom of God from the kingdoms of earth — not 
only a complete separation, but an antagonistic array 
and preparation, a rushing on to meet in a hostile col- 
lision. The inclination of the reader, like that of the 
writer, may not be to accept this doctrine ; but we find 
these facts written here, and our business is to give a 
correct and unprejudiced history. This is the picture 
at the time the collision takes place. 



74 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 



CHAPTER VI. 



The Stone Smote the Image. The Causes and 
Results of the Smiting. 



This is a genuine war. The nation of people called 
" Christians " are opposed to war and desire to follow 
after peace. They desire to honor the injunction of 
Paul, who says : " Let every soul be in subjection to 
the higher powers. . . . For he is a minister of 
God to thee for good." (Rom. 13: 1-4.) All Chris- 
tians take a pride in following these injunctions of the 
gre-at apostle. In doing so they show to the world 
they are not only Christians, but good citizens of the 
government under whose dominion they reside. 

There is but one cause that can induce or lead a 
Christian to deliberately violate this injunction of God. 
The only legitimate cause for violating this scripture 
is from the higher and more noble desire and deter- 
mination to honor and obey God rather than man. 
The only thing that can ever bring Christians, as a 
body, in hostile collision with any human government 
will be because such government shall enact laws which 
conflict with God's laws. This, and nothing but this, 
can dissolve the Christian's obligation to " be in sub- 
jection " to the governments of earth. When the 
governments of earth shall enact laws to control the 
Christian's conscience or oppose the church of God in 

75 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

its God-ordained course and acts of worship, then will 
every strong and manly Christian repeat and stand 
firmly by the apostolic precept and example which 
says: "Whether it is right in the sight of God to 
hearken unto you [man] rather than unto God, judge 
ye." (Acts 4: 19.) It is very evident that the cause 
of this collision is a prominent part of the past history 
of the church and the world, if it is an event of the 
past. No kingdom ever made war upon another king- 
dom without hostility first existing in the laws of the 
two antagonistic kingdoms. Any other act is outlawry. 
What kingdom of the earth has at any time enacted 
laws antagonizing the teaching of the Bible? The 
wars and oppressions of the different denominations 
exercised against each other by their influence and use 
of human governments have, without an exception, 
come from a difference in interpretation of the Bible, 
and not that either attacked the Bible or thought its 
teaching wrong. 

Prior to the advent of Christendom kingdoms the 
heathen kingdoms of earth were overruled by God in 
so much that they were God's ministers to protect his 
word and his people. (Rom. 13 : 4.) When did these 
relations cease ? They have never ceased, and we will 
seek in vain to find in the past any legal or constitu- 
tional conflict or antagonism between any kingdom of 
earth and the kingdom of God. It cannot be found. 
It never has existed in any age of the world. Before 
God's kingdom can ever be placed in opposition to or 
caused to antagonize any kingdom of earth, that 
earthly kingdom must ordain laws which antagonize 
the law and constitution of God's kingdom, which is 

16 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

the Bible, the word of God. No such antagonism or 
warlike array as that described by Daniel can ever 
come from any cause except by an attempt to curtail 
or enlarge in some way the teaching and obedience to 
God's word by his people. God's kingdom exists in 
and is encompassed by his word, and cannot be ap- 
proached in hostility by an earthly kingdom except 
by a hostile attempt to change or mutilate God's 
word. This is the only manner or way possible to 
attack God's kingdom. It must come from a war upon 
his word, with a proclamation to nullify or mutilate 
it. No other way is conceivable or possible. No 
kingdom of earth has ever done this; therefore no 
such antagonism or war has ever taken place. 

Nero's persecutions were a war upon individuals, 
and not upon the Bible. He was so ignorant on the 
teachings and doctrines of Christianity that he could 
not distinguish between a Jew and a Christian. The 
persecutions of the Catholics and other denominations 
were because those persecuted were supposed to reject 
its true teaching and become heretics as to the true 
gospel. But this coUision shown by Daniel represents 
a union of every Christian on earth in one body, united 
by God's law, represented by God's law of cohesion 
in the stone, and, therefore, under his law coming in 
contact with a universal kingdom. This kingdom is 
united under one constitution, and, therefore, in one 
body, as much so as the union of the different parts 
of a man makes one body. With God's word before 
us, we are assured that God's law must be attacked 
for mutilation or destruction before God's kingdom 
can be arrayed against an earthly kingdom. When 

n 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

has his law and his word been attacked by an earthly 
government? When have the kingdoms of earth 
ceased to be ministers of God to his people for good? 
They are such to-day, and have been in all the centuries 
since the injunction of the great apostle Paul went 
from him to the church. They will continue to be 
ministers of God for good to his people and kingdom 
until a future universal kingdom attempts to mutilate 
his word. This has never been attempted by any 
earthly kingdom of the past; therefore these events 
are in the future. 

What did the prophet mean by the word " smote ? " 
"A stone was cut out without hands, which smote the 
image upon its feet that were of iron and clay, and 
brake them in pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the 
brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces to- 
gether, and [they] became like the chaff of the sum- 
mer threshing floors." When the thing represented 
by the stone smites the thing represented by the image 
in fact and reality, then that event will not be one to 
be sought after in human history and found only by 
the acute perceptive powers of the imagination. If it 
is like the smiting and falling of an image when its 
foundation is broken by a stone from a mountain, it 
will sweep over the whole earth in a day. The feet are 
broken by the collision, and, therefore, there is not a 
particle of the body whicli does not receive a shock. 
The fall of the laws of this great union of kingdoms 
by its collision with the kingdom of God is similar to 
and as fixed and measured in time as the fall of an 
image when its foundation is broken by a stone from 
a mountain. Such a sudden fall of kings, rulers, and 
laws as is here shown, we do not believe could ever re- 

7B> 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

suit in Christendom from a collision with the church 
without the most profuse and enormous shedding of 
blood throughout the earth by just and righteous men 
who die as martyrs for the word of God. Such a 
legalized shedding of the " blood of martyrs " and exe- 
cution of saints would, and will, shock the hearts of 
the multitudes of men, the foundation of all human 
governments ; and, in the shock and madness of revul- 
sion, they will cast off law and dominion, and thus the 
people of earth will become as the chaff of the sum- 
mer threshing floors by the power of the blood of saints 
and martyrs of the church. 

The fall of kings and rulers — and, therefore, laws — 
in this vision is as sudden as the fall of an image when 
its foundation is broken by being smitten by a stone 
from a mountain driven by the laws of gravitation 
and momentum against it. It does not take centuries 
for an image to fall after its foundation is broken by 
such a blow. For a thing to be smitten, it must receive 
a sudden and quick blow, like the image of this vision 
is said by Daniel to receive from a stone from a moun- 
tain, or like the giant, Goliath, received from a stone 
from David's sling. David " smote " Goliath with a 
stone from his sling ; the stone " smote " the image 
in its descent from the mountain. The fall of Go- 
liath when smitten with a stone or the fall of the image 
of a man when its foundation is broken by being smit- 
ten by a stone from a mountain measures in likeness 
the suddenness and quickness of a fall of the king- 
doms of earth when they are smitten and shocked by 
the kingdom of God by the blood of its future martyrs 
and saints. No law of God or man can rest on any 
other foundation than that of human blood. The 

79 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

most awe-inspiring, shocking, irresistible, and terror- 
izing power of human blood is that existing in the 
blood of a truly righteous man shed in support of his 
faith in his Creator or the word he believes to be 
from God. No human law can hold down revolt or 
suppress rebellion when the blood of martyred right- 
eous men shall flow in Christendom from faith in a 
crucified King. It is a power that cannot and will not 
be chained, by human law; and when the attempt 
shall be made by the kingdoms of earth after they 
are mingled for ages with the word of God, it will 
cause their collapse and lead to their utter dissolution. 
This will be the first event in the ages to shake and 
move the foundations of Christendom. 

The children of God within the religious denomina- 
tions of Christendom compose the vast and number- 
less army of the kingdom of God at this time. 

God's people in the denominations would now, and 
will at the time of this event, vigorously reject any 
change in or mutilation of the Bible. Thousands from 
all denominations of Christendom would to-day be 
found with such faith in his word that they would in 
the presence of such danger attain the full-grown stat- 
ure and strength of the " man child of the church," 
the " man child of the beautiful woman "of the Apoc- 
alypse. They could, like that picture shows, in love 
of God and unwavering faith in the redemption of 
his word, pour out their blood in martyrdom as a 
tribute of love to mingle with the blood of Christ, their 
crucified King. 

This very event, as foretold by God, will shake and 
shatter the very foundation of Christendom when it 
takes place. 

80 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 



CHAPTER VIL 



The Collision of the Kingdom of God, as Given 
by Daniel, Presented by the Apostle John. The 
Woman of Rev. 12 Defined. She is the Church of 
God. The Words " Sun " and " Moon " Translated 
from Figurative to Their Literal Meanings. 



We have in the preceding chapters located some of 
the great transactions of the kingdoms of earth, as 
well as of the church, as some of the momentous 
events yet to transpire. That these positions are cor- 
rect, we believe, is vouched for by their harmony along 
this line with every scripture in both the Old and the 
New Testaments, as well as all authentic secular his- 
tory. We invite the attention of the reader to their 
enlarged and expanded and fuller revelation found in 
the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse. This chapter, 
we think, gives the first event to transpire recorded 
in this revelation. There are many figurative words 
used in describing the scenes of the Apocalypse, and, 
without their correct translation, no one can read, 
much less apply, them. If the true meanings of these 
figurative words are not given in the Bible, then the 
book is no revelation and can never be read by men 
in the flesh. Therefore, before we can comprehend the 
revelations of these same scenes given in the Apoca- 
lypse which we have read in the prophecy of Daniel, 

81 
6 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

we must translate the figurative words in which they 
are given by the apostle John. John presents the king- 
doms of earth in hostile array against the kingdom of 
God in the following scripture : "And a great sign was 
seen in heaven : a woman arrayed with the sun, and 
the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown 
of twelve stars ; and she was with child ; and she crieth 
out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered. 
And there was seen another sign in heaven: and be- 
hold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten 
horns, and upon his heads seven diadems." (Rev. 
12: 1-3.) 

Without some knowledge of the Bible meaning of 
the figurative words in the above scriptures, it would 
be in vain to assert that this scripture has any con- 
nection with or relation to the same event found in 
the second chapter of Daniel. Let us define the figu- 
rative words found in this scripture and learn what 
the apostle is talking about. 

Woman. 

The word "woman," when used in the Bible in a 
figurative sense, invariably refers to a religious body 
of people, either worshiping or pretending to worship 
the God of the Bible. (See John 3 : 29 ; Rev. 17 : 17.) 
The word " woman " was never applied to worshipers 
of idols by God. This word throughout the Bible 
has been applied to the Jewish people or to the church 
of Christ, and no other. But few would take the posi- 
tion, or ever have taken the position, that the woman 
here represents the Jewish nation. There is no doubt 

82 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

in our mind that this woman is a symbol of the church 
of Christ, which was fully established in the apostolic 
age. Let us find the proof. 

The belief that this woman represents the Jewish 
nation has its origin, to a very great extent, as we 
understand it, from the fact that it is erroneously 
claimed that Christ was the man child and was bom 
of the Jewish nation, and, therefore, this woman rep- 
resents the Jewish nation. This would be impossible 
to prove. This birth does not represent a literal birth, 
and, therefore, could not represent the birth of Christ. 
Christ was born of a real woman, and not of a na- 
tion, or figurative woman, for his birth was literal. 
No real, literal child was ever born of a nation in a 
literal sense, for nations do not bear children, and 
the Bible never so teaches. 

This man child represents a multitude of people. 
Christ's angel, in addressing the angel of the church 
of Thyatira, speaks thus: "And he that overcometh, 
and he that keepeth my works unto the end, to him 
will I give authority over the nations : and he shall 
rule them with a rod of iron." (Rev. 2: 26, 27.) 
These people, " he [or whomsoever as used here] 
that keepeth my works to the end," are the man child 
of this woman, for they do the very thing the man 
child is to do. "And she was deHvered of a son, a 
man child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of 
iron." (Rev. 12: 5.) The Hfe work of these people, 
this multitude of Christians, who will be on earth at 
the beginning as well as the end of the tribulations 
referred to here, is identical with the work of the man 
child of this beautified woman. This woman is arrayed 

83 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

with the sun. The Jewish nation never was clothed 
with the word of God, the sun. Christ was the sun; 
he was the word of God; but the Jewish nation re- 
fused to be clothed in his wisdom and light. They 
rejected his light. His church accepted his word, and 
it is the only sunlight it has to this day. The Jewish 
nation has had no spiritual sun for centuries. 

" The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave 
him to show unto his servants, even the things [all 
the things] which must shortly come to pass." (Rev. 
1: 1.) A revelation is not a history of past events, 
and, therefore, does not recapitulate things which have 
come to pass. The birth of Christ was a past event 
when the book was written, and is not and cannot be 
part of a revelation. The things the revelation was to 
show were "the things which must shortly come to 
pass ; " and, therefore, it does not show a single event 
which had come to pass when it was given. Not a 
single fact which had transpired is to be found in this 
or any other revelation. Christ is not the man child 
of the Revelation. All his life was revealed and had 
become history when the Apocalypse was written. 
These facts pointed out here should settle the ques- 
tion with all seekers of truth. 

The first verse puts everything, every event, in the 
revelation among " the things which must shortly come 
to pass ; " and, therefore, we waste our time and de- 
ceive ourselves, and possibly others, when we claim or 
teach that it is possible to find a single event that had 
come to pass in the revelation. The birth of Christ 
had come to pass. It was a literal birth. He was not 
born of a nation; he was born of a woman. These 

84 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

facts are sufficient to ground us in the faith that Christ 
is not the man child of the Bible ; that he will not be 
born again in a figurative sense, like the man child 
of the Bible is yet to be. The birth of the man child 
is yet to transpire, as we will see in a later chapter. 

Rest assured, God never made the mistake of re- 
writing history in any form and calling it a " revela- 
tion." It would be untrue; therefore God has never 
done such things. 

The twelve apostles were not only radiant stars on 
and in the church, but their light is to bless all nations 
and continue to shine to the final end and the coming 
of Christ. 

The twelve patriarchs never were messengers, stars, 
lights to the Jewish nation and the world, but only to 
a part of the world. They were stars when com- 
pared to their father, Jacob, who was the sun of the 
patriarchal age and gave spiritual light to his family. 
(Gen. 30:7-10.) 

The Jewish nation never was in the presence of 
such a combination of nations and peoples and martial 
strength as is represented by the red dragon which 
confronts this woman. Neither has the church ever 
yet beheld this beast. It represents a future combi- 
nation; it has never yet existed. To understand the 
composition of this beast is to know assuredly that it 
has never existed on earth to this day. It has never 
yet been in the presence of the church or the Jewish 
nation. 

Sun. 

The word " sun," when used in a figurative sense, 
in a nonmiraculous age, refers directly or indirectly 

85 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

to the word of God. God's word is the source of all 
spiritual light, and hence is here called the "clothing 
of the sun." 

In the patriarchal age the father was the sun, the 
spiritual light of the family. God gave him his word 
and taught him the way of righteousness, and he gave 
light to the wife and children. Joseph dreamed a 
dream as follows: 

"And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to 
his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed yet a 
dream; and, behold, the sun and the moon and eleven 
stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his fa- 
ther, and to his brethren ; and his father rebuked him, 
and said unto him. What is this dream that thou hast 
dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren 
indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the 
earth?" (Gen. 37: 9, 10.) 

Here we have the clear definitions of three figura- 
tive words — the words " sun," " moon," and " stars " — 
which show this : The father received the spiritual 
light from God and bestowed it upon his wife and 
children. He was thus the sun, the light giver. The 
mother was the moon who received the light from 
her husband, the sun ; and by the use of this borrowed 
light from her husband she blessed and made lighter 
and brighter the life of her family and those who came 
within her sphere. The stars, the sons, in their turn, 
were messengers ; bore the same light received from 
the father and mother, the sun and moon, along their 
pathway in life to light the road for others. 

Here we have the sun represented by a man inspired 
with God's will and word. He was the only word of 

86 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

God in his age. We have the moon represented bj 
the wife of the inspired man, showmg the Hght re- 
ceived from the husband. The stars are represented 
by men receiving hght from both father and mother, 
both the sun and the moon. 

This woman (Rev. 12), while in the presence of the 
dragon, is clothed with the word of God and is stand- 
ing with her feet on a " moon." The figurative mean- 
ing of the word " sun," as we have seen, shows it to 
be a spiritual light giver. It is used here, as in other 
scriptures, to represent the source of spiritual light. 
David says : " Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a 
light unto my path." (Ps. 119: 105.) Here David 
tells us the word of God is the source of spiritual 
light, the spiritual sun. The word " sun," in all its 
applications throughout the Bible, when used figu- 
ratively, represents the word of God either in written 
words, in Christ, or in inspired men. When Christ 
was on earth, he was figuratively called the " Sun." 
He was also figuratively called the " Word," because 
he personified the word of God. The words " Sun " 
and " Word of God " are applied to Christ synony- 
mously. " But unto you that fear my name shall the 
sun of righteousness arise." (Mai. 4:2.) 

If the reader will read the context in which this 
application of the word " sun " is used, he will find it 
stands for Christ, who personified the word, and was 
also called the " Word of God." " In the beginning 
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the 
Word was God. ... In him was hfe; and the 
life was the light of men. . . . And the Word be- 
came flesh, and dwelt among us." (John 1 : 1-140 

87 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

Here the Word of God, while it was flesh, was the 
light of men. The word of God which Christ per- 
sonified Avas the sun, the light, the spiritual light of 
men. The sun of righteousness — full righteousness — 
never came on the earth until it came in Christ. The 
Jews rejected that sun. They were never clothed with 
the sun. 

Moon. 

"And the moon under her feet/' (Rev. 12: 1.) 
The word " moon " is used here in a figurative 
sense, and its figurative meaning must be in harmony 
with the word " sun." The moon reflects the light 
of the sun; it is a reflector of borrowed light from 
the sun. A religious body of people, through its creed 
in the spiritual world, like the moon in the material 
world, sheds forth its borrowed light. The word of 
God is beautifully symbolized by the sun, like a human 
spiritual light reflector is beautifully symbolized by the 
moon. 

The moon, unlike the sun, has no native light to 
give, but reflects light received from the sun. The 
word " moon," as here used, is a symbol of a reli- 
gious body of people, which implies a creed embody- 
ing its people. It can symbolize nothing in the spiritual 
world but something that reflects borrowed spiritual 
light from the word of God in some form, like the 
moon reflects material light from the sun. Its peo- 
ple are a religious people, and, therefore, figuratively, 
a woman, a married woman, like Rachel, the wife of 
Jacob. As the moon reflects the light of the sun, so a 
religious human creed, through its people, reflects par- 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

tially the light of God's word. Rachel did this very- 
thing. She was truly a spiritual moon in her day. 

None of us have ever made a higher claim for any 
human creed than that it contained only such truths 
as it had received from God's word. Every religious 
denomination in Christendom, with its creed, refers us 
to the Bible as the source from which it receives every 
ray of its spiritual light, like the moon points us to 
the sun for every ray of material light which it sheds 
upon the earth. None claim that the light of the 
moon is anything more than borrowed, reflected light 
from the sun. No one claims that the spiritual light 
of a religious creed embodying its people is anything 
more than borrowed, spiritual light from the word of 
God. A religious body of people implies a religious 
creed, and a religious creed implies a religious body 
of people. 

Who is the husband? She is clothed in modified, 
but true, borrowed spiritual light ; and, therefore, she 
is, or claims to be, the wife of Christ, the true church. 
She is beneath the feet of the woman clothed in the 
sun. She is defended by this seven-headed beast, 
who chases the sun-clothed woman to the wilderness. 

Chapter 17 of Revelation shows she is the harlot 
associate of this great universal kingdom of earth, as 
we will see in the proper place in this history. 

This moon, like the moon which symbolized Rachel, 
is a figurative moon, and, therefore, represents a 
woman, a religious body of people. This gives us the 
woman, a religious body of people, clothed with the 
sun, with their feet on a moon, which is another 
woman, another religious body of people, not so close 

89 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

to God or so beautifully, so brightly, and so radiantly 
adorned with his word. This is just what these words 
teach when defined by God. These definitions are 
" arbitrary," you may say. We are glad they are ; for 
all true definitions are arbitrary, and mean one thing, 
and only one thing. This woman clothed with the 
sun " is in Christ," has " put on Christ," with all his 
radiant light. She represents the church in a higher 
state of glorious light and wisdom than ever yet at- 
tained. Then we find that the " moon " in this vision 
represents another figurative woman, a religious body 
of people, encompassed within a human creed, which 
reflects borrowed light from the word of God, as 
gleaned therefrom by the wisdom of man, and is not, 
in fact, in Christ, and, therefore, clothed with the sun 
or the light of God's word. 

Stars. 

"And upon her head a crown of twelve stars." 
(Rev. 12: 1.) 

The word " star," when used symbolically in the 
Bible, refers to men in the flesh or heavenly messen- 
gers. The sons of Jacob were stars (Gen. Z7 \ 9, 10), 
as we have seen. " The seven stars are the angels of 
the seven churches." (Rev. 1: 20.) These "stars" 
were, and still are, men in the flesh. After resurrec- 
tion Daniel tells us that men will be like stars. He 
says : "An dthey that are wise shall shine as the bright- 
ness of the firmament; and they that turn many to 
righteousness as the stars forever and ever." (Dan. 
12:3.) 

90 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

The twelve apostles have been the twelve light giv- 
ers of the church through all the ages. They are 
to-day like they were in the beginning — the bright and 
luminous stars to the church. Their wisdom and light 
are shining to-day with undimmed luster and bright- 
ness above and amid the vast firmament of the noble 
humanity of the church, and have done so for nearly 
twenty centuries. They have been, and will continue 
to be, a crown of twelve bright and shining stars to 
the church, which will grow brighter each year until 
she meets her bridegroom at his appointed time in the 
ages. 

Let us now reread this first symbol which appeared 
to John in a wonderful vision enacted in heaven : 

"And a great sign was seen in heaven: a woman 
arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, 
and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; and she 
was with child ; and she crieth out, travailing in birth, 
and in pain to be delivered." (Rev. 12: 1, 2.) 

If we have correctly translated the figurative words 
in the above symbol, we have the following as a cor- 
rect reading: A great and wonderful event was re- 
vealed by enactment to John while he was in the spirit 
in heaven. The bride of Christ, the church, appeared 
before him arrayed in the light of a full and perfect 
understanding of the whole Bible, with a moon, a 
woman, a religious body of people encompassed within 
a human religious creed, powerless to rise above her 
feet, her spiritual foundation, which foundation is the 
fact that the Christ, her husband, is the Son of the 
living God. The truth upon which Christ built his 
church is the feet, the foundation, of the church ; and 

91 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

this moon, this harlot woman, is found beneath it, and 
not standing upon it, as all Christians do. She seeks 
the aid of this red dragon, this universal kingdom 
which will yet come on the earth, to help her move or 
destroy the feet of the church, which weigh her down. 
Her union is as perfect as the union of the parts of a 
human body. Her wisdom and light are crowned by 
the guiding and directing light and teaching of the 
twelve apostles of the church. This is the first Chris- 
tian union known to divine or human history since 
the primitive church. The oneness of her body shows 
an international union, embracing every Christian on 
the whole earth. There is but one church of Christ. 
Its symbol is presented standing in the presence of the 
beast of the Apocalypse, which beast, as we shall see 
in another chapter, embraces every nation, tribe, and 
people on earth. The woman could not stand before 
every nation of earth and not be an international body. 
This union is not a supernatural union, but it is from 
its one constitution. Like the one constitution of a 
human being, with its light and sunlight clearness and 
brightness, it is from the word of God. At the time 
this woman stands thus arrayed in the presence of the 
beast of the Apocalypse she represents a perfect and 
complete union, under the light of God's word, of 
every Christian on earth. There will not be a single 
Christian to be found on the whole earth outside of 
this union, represented by the body of a woman, 
with one mind and one soul. Such a union of God's 
people has never existed in the past, not since the 
Jerusalem church passed away. The Jews never were 
so united at any time. Such a union can never take 

92 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

place except from a coercive law compelling the intel- 
ligent people of all the denominations of Christendom 
to choose between and accept this one creed — this one 
moon of this vision — and become harlots, with a great 
earthly kingdom, or come under the light and efful- 
gent brightness of the teaching and light of the word 
of God, crowned with the authority, the wisdom, and 
the guidance of the twelve apostles. When this event 
is enacted, the proclamation of this beast will be : "Ac- 
cept, ye people of all the earth, the soft and modified 
light of this * moon,' and reject the foundation of the 
church — reject the doctrine that Jesus Christ is the 
Son of God." When this proclamation is sounded, the 
man child of the church will be born by a delivery 
from the trials and tribulations of the church on earth, 
by an entrance into eternal life in heaven. The blood 
of the man child, united with the word of God, will 
rriake it a powerful rod of iron. By it he will smite 
the nations of earth. Then will the woman — every 
Christian in broad Christendom — flee to the wilder- 
ness, " a place prepared of God," (Rev. 12: 6.) 



93 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



CHAPTER VIII. 



The Man Child of the Church— The Wilderness of 
the Apocalypse. 



"And the dragon standeth before the woman that 
is about to be delivered, that when she is deUvered 
he may devour her child. And she was delivered of a 
son, a man child, who is to rule all the nations with a 
rod of iron : and her child was caught up unto God, 
and unto his throne." (Rev. 12: 4, 5.) 

Here is the birth of the man child of the Apoca- 
lypse. Any birth involves a death to one state of 
existence and the beginning of a new life in an- 
other. (See Rom. 6: 1-8; John 3: 3-8.) The deliv- 
ery of the woman of a son is a figurative birth, 
because a figurative woman cannot bear a literal 
child. This birth of the man child is a separation 
from the church by a translation into a new life, 
an entrance into immortality. This child is caught 
up to God and to his throne. It is a delivery from 
the body of the church on earth to eternal life in 
heaven. The translation is brought about by a col- 
lision of the woman with the seven-headed beast, 
which results in the separation of the child from the 
body of the church and a delivery into heaven. A 
birth and a delivery from the church could be made 
by no other process than by a translation from mor- 

94 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

tality to immortality, a translation from the flesh and 
an entrance into heaven — a new state of life. Hence 
this man child was immediately resurrected when it 
was attempted to be devoured by the beast. It was 
delivered in heaven. It is a death to one state and 
immediate life in another. (See Rev. 6: 9-12.) 

Who is this man child? Let us get our definition 
from the Bible, for God here uses this figure of 
speech ; and if he has not directly or indirectly defined 
his symbols, no man living can guess his meaning. 
The word " man," in a figurative sense, means 
" strength." Man was made ruler over all the earth, 
under God, when he was first created. He was the 
acme of strength and sovereignty among the crea- 
tures of earth, and God gave him dominion over all 
animate things, and he called him " man." In har- 
mony with this sovereignty given to man from his 
power to rule, God has used the name he gave him 
("man") as a symbol of "strength." Paul says: 
" Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, 
be strong." (1 Cor. 16: 13.) Here is a clear and 
unmistakable figurative use of the word "man." It 
means " strength." To be like a man, Paul says, is to 
be " strong." When the church brings forth a man 
child, it will produce a strong child. The word 
" child " is not a figurative word as used here in any 
sense than that the singular number is used for the 
plural, like the following : " When Israel was a child, 
then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." 
(Hos. 11: 1.) Here the words "child" and "son" 
are applied to several hundred thousand people. 
There is no doubt the word " child " under discus- 

95 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

sion, as used here, embraces many thousands of mar- 
tyrs of Jesus. The word " child," when referring to 
that which is within the metes and bounds of the 
church and is a part of the body of the church, means 
one or more persons, and is used here in the singular 
number, like the words " Israel " or " Esau " were 
sometimes used to designate their multitudes. Then 
this man child is the strong people of the church who 
will exist in that body when the church is found con- 
fronting the beast of the Apocalypse — a thing Vv'hich 
has never yet been. 

When Christians, by the enlightening and develop- 
ing power of the word of God, attain to that strength 
of faith and unwavering love of God which it is possi- 
ble for man to reach under the full knowledge and 
guidance of his word, so they can, by the power of 
their faith in the redemption of his word, pour out 
their blood in martyrdom, like their Prince and King, 
then, and not till then, will the man child of the Apoc- 
alypse be found in the body of the church. It is a 
preparation and state of the human mind and heart 
which will lead to a fearless deliver}^ from the flesh 
in the church into eternal life. We find this birth is a 
delivery from Hfe within the metes and bounds of the 
church to a life in heaven. This man child, these 
strong people of the church, are the first to pass from 
the church into eternal life : "And her child was caught 
up unto God, and unto his throne." (Rev. 12:5.) These 
people are caught up unto God and unto his throne; 
they pass from earth to heaven. Here they are shown 
in heaven : " I saw underneath the altar the souls of 
them that had been slain for the word of God, and 

96 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

for the testimony which they held." (Rev. 6: 9.) 
This is placed in the fifth seal, and it embraces the 
first work not performed by man and noted in any 
seal. This is the first fulfilled scene in the Apoca- 
lypse. These people are the people called the " man 
child," and we find they are the first to be saved from 
death and to attain to salvation in heaven. (Rev. 
12:11.) 

The man child will embrace an international body 
of God's people, who will attain sublime strength and 
faith in God and his word, which will distinguish 
them before God and men above the godly heroes of 
past ages, including the Christians in the primitive 
church, and they will be the perfect fruit and product 
of the beautiful woman of the Apocalypse. 

This child, these heroes of the church, as the church 
collides with and smites this great union of nations by 
rejecting its moon, by placing its feet upon the only 
spiritual light of the nations, an international people 
and creed, will spill its blood in martyrdom and be 
translated by God. It will not sleep in the dust of the 
earth. We find it with life in heaven. 

This delivery of the church of its perfected strength, 
the man child, in conflict with the dragon, as shown 
by the woman standing with her feet on another 
woman, on a moon, and, therefore, the international 
creed and religious people, dominating this union of 
kingdoms represented by a red dragon in her pres- 
ence, prepared to devour the man child, is but the 
presentation of the fact that these two powers have 
met, and that the Bible, after being turned into a hu- 
man creed by mutilation by the laws of this kingdom, 
7 97 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

is rejected by the woman, the church of God. This 
red dragon, this seven-headed beast, which is a symbol 
of a great federation of earthly kingdoms, under seven 
crowns and one constitution, as we will see, all com- 
posing one body for the support of a harlot woman, 
with a single spiritual light reflector — a creed — is op- 
posed by the woman, the church, clothed with the 
bright garments of Hght, the word of God. We see 
her standing with her basic truth, her feet, upon this 
spiritual moon — this false woman, who gives the only 
spiritual light in the vision of this union of the king- 
doms of earth existing under seven crowns. The 
church of God is delivered of a " man child," which 
is the culmination of the power of the seed of the king- 
dom of God manifested in the strength of the people 
of God in the body of the church at that particular 
time, and who are able to break up this union of 
kingdoms by the power of their blood shed in martyr- 
dom. 

" Who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron." 
The stone " smote the image upon its feet that were of 
iron and clay, and brake them in pieces," and they 
"became like the chaff of the summer threshing 
floors." 

From this collision the kingdoms of earth go into 
a state of anarchy, which is a spiritual wilderness, as 
presented by Daniel. (Chapter 2.) From this colli- 
sion the kingdoms of earth go into a spiritual wilder- 
ness, which is a state of anarchy, as given by John. 
(Rev. 17.) They both show the same bodies in col- 
lision, resulting in the same conditions — a state of 
legal dissolution, a spiritual wilderness. The full 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

proof of these facts cannot be given here, but they 
will be given in their proper places in this volume. 

The metallic image of the vision of Daniel and this 
beast of the book of Revelation represent the same 
thing. One shows the inanimate bodily union of the 
kingdoms of earth; the other shows the same union 
with life, and places the same near the coming of 
Christ. They both show the results of one and the 
same collision, which is said by God to be a legal dis- 
solution, like the dissolution of the particles of a me- 
tallic image when it becomes " like the chaff of the 
summer threshing floors," which condition in a king- 
dom is a state of anarchy or a spiritual wilderness. 
John gives us the causes of the collision, as well as the 
active conditions of the kingdoms of earth immedi- 
ately after the collision, by presenting his seven- 
headed beast as it actually exists in that spiritual wil- 
derness, or state of anarchy, foretold by Daniel. 
"And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilder- 
ness: and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet-cov- 
ered beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven 
heads and ten horns." (Rev. 17: 3.) Here we find 
this union of kingdoms, this seven-headed beast, with 
its seven heads, decrowned in a spiritual wilderness, 
in a state of legal dissolution, without a crown, and, 
therefore, without a ruler or law. Its body is " like 
the chaff of the summer threshing floors." It is not 
an organic body. 

A material wilderness is a territory or country 
where there are no material roads, no fixed or natural 
guides. A spiritual wilderness is a community of 
people wherein there are no spiritual guides or roads. 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

Material roads in sufficient number through a terri- 
tory reduces it to, and brings it under, the control of 
man. 

Spiritual roads are spiritual guides ; spiritual guides 
are either human or divine laws, .according to the 
walks of men. In the spiritual world, laws, Hke roads 
in the material world, are the only things to guide men. 
Spiritual guides (laws), existing in a community of 
people, are the only means that can bring or keep such 
a community under human or divine control. With 
material roads through a territory, a traveler knows 
his relation at all times and places to all other parts 
and things in such territory. When men reject or 
nulHfy the laws of a community, it makes a spiritual 
wilderness of that community to that extent, and noth- 
ing else can do so. In all the dispensations of God 
he has guided and directed the course of the people 
of his community by his laws. His laws have been 
spiritual guides to his people. The same is true of all 
earthly kingdoms. 

When material roads are obliterated in a territory, 
the control of man ceases. When laws are obliterated 
in a community, the dominion of man, or God over 
man, in that community ceases, and men at once find 
themselves lost to all spiritual objects and beings. 
God has here foretold that such a state would exist, 
embracing all the kingdoms of earth, and it will be 
when they " become like the chaff of the summer 
threshing floors." 

A spiritual wilderness is composed of people amid 
the wild terrors of broken kingdoms and fallen em- 
pires, where all spiritual guides are swept away and 

100 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

obliterated, where anarchy reigns, and all men alike 
are as unrestrained as the " chaff of the summer 
threshing floors." Such a spiritual condition is a 
spiritual wilderness. 

Many spiritual wildernesses have existed in the 
earth, and they have always arisen from internal 
causes and civil wars ; for they can come from nothing 
but internal causes, leading to the dethronement of a 
king and the fall of all laws. The conquest of one 
nation by another does not produce a spiritual wilder- 
ness, but it is merely the transit of the people of one 
kingdom to another, the transit of the people of one 
spiritual house or kingdom into another spiritual house. 
All kingdoms, either religious or secular, are spiritual 
dwelling places, embracing its people within the com- 
pass of a constitution and form of laws which are 
spiritual. When these are obliterated, the people are 
left in a state of disorder and confusion, without any 
knowledge of spiritual surroundings, without spiritual 
roads leading to safety and peace. No one knows 
where to find a spiritual haven or place of security 
under such conditions or knows his relation to other 
people. They are in a spiritual wilderness. A man 
holding the military power of a kingdom reaps per- 
sonal power from such conditions, for, in the Bible 
sense of the word " king," it makes him a king with- 
out a kingdom or form of government. 

When Charles I. was incarcerated, the kingdom of 
England became a spiritual wilderness ; but much of 
its terrors were ameliorated by the strong hand of 
Cromwell, who, when the power of Charles was 
broken, became a king without a kingdom. Cromwell 

101 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

was a king in the spiritual wilderness of England, 
following the broken dominion of Charles. He was, 
in the Bible sense, a king, or ruler, by the power and 
strength of his army; but he received no kingdom 
during the interregnum between the fall of the domin- 
ion of Charles and the erection of a form of govern- 
ment, or kingdom, after his execution. He then be- 
came a king with a kingdom, or form of government. 

Many spiritual wildernesses have existed in the 
earth, but they have been limited in extent ; and none 
are mentioned in the Bible, except the one under con- 
sideration, which embraces every nation and tongue 
and people of earth. 

Then when the angel invited the apostle to go and 
see the great harlot, he found her in a wilderness 
composed of broken kingdoms, embracing " many wa- 
ters." He says : " I will show thee the great harlot 
that sitteth upon many waters." The harlot was sit- 
ting upon " many waters." " The waters which thou 
sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and mul- 
titudes, and nations, and tongues." (Rev. 17: 15.) 

"And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilder- 
ness : and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet-col- 
ored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven 
heads and ten horns." (Rev. 17: 3.) 

The angel tells John that he will show him the great 
harlot, and that she sitteth upon many waters, and 
that the waters, the " many waters," are " many " 
peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. 
When they find the woman, they find her sitting upon 
" many waters," which waters compose the body of a 
scarlet-colored beast. Then this beast is composed 

102 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

of " many waters," which are "many" peoples, mul- 
titudes, nations, and tongues; and, to see this picture, 
John was compelled to go into the wilderness, where 
the woman was with the body of the beast, composed 
of many multitudes and peoples and nations and 
tongues, all existing without a crown on the beast. 
This is a clear definition of a spiritual wilderness, for 
the wilderness, where the woman sitteth, was the 
body of a kingdom with seven heads, but without a 
single crown. When we found this beast in the twelfth 
chapter, and not in a wilderness, it had seven crowns. 
"And behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads 
and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems." 
(Rev. 12: 3.) When the same beast is in a spiritual 
wilderness, it is without a single crown. No crowns 
are shown on the beast of Rev. 17 : 3, because he is a 
spiritual wilderness where no laws exist. 

Here we find many nations in a wilderness. To 
find a great multitude of peoples and nations in a wil- 
derness, the wilderness must necessarily be a spirit- 
ual wilderness, for a material wilderness could not 
be with people living in it, except on a literal journey 
with an infallible guide. We are not attempting to 
define the beast of the Apocalypse here, but are show- 
ing what this wilderness is. The word " beast," as 
used throughout the Bible in a figurative sense, is used 
to represent one of the four kingdoms, or forms of 
government, mentioned in Dan. 2. Let the reader 
remember this. Daniel clearly defines the figurative 
meaning of the word " beast." He says : " The fourth 
beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth." 
(Dan. 7: 23.) This is a clear definition of the figu- 

103 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

rative use of the word " beast." The word " beast " 
is also appHed to a king in this same chapter. It 
says : " These great beasts, which are four, are four 
kings, that shall arise out of the earth." (Dan. 7: 
17.) In these two scriptures we have the word 
" beast " applied interchangeably to kings and king- 
doms. Why is this ? We can put it down as true that 
when God calls a man who is at the time a king " a 
kingdom," it is because he is not only a king, but is also 
a kingdom. Then we might ask the question : Are all 
kings kingdoms? Not by any means. God never 
applied the word " kingdom " to any kings except 
these four kings who introduced these four forms of 
government, and he did so in these cases because the 
four kings were really kingdoms. They held all the 
prerogatives of the four kingdoms, as the scriptures 
show. They were lawgivers, judges, and executors of 
the kingdoms. Of the first (Nebuchadnezzar) it was 
said : " Whom he would he slew, and whom he would 
he kept alive ; and whom he would he raised up, and 
whom he would he put down." (Dan. 5 : 19.) These 
are the powers of a kingdom ; and when a man holds 
these powers, he is a kingdom. These four are sole 
monarchs, and no other kind of king was ever called 
"a kingdom" by the God of the Bible.. These are 
kingdoms. Kings with divided sovereignty are never 
called " kingdoms " by the God of the Bible. 

No word in the Bible has more than one figurative 
meaning. They may be applied to the same thing 
under different conditions, and thus, like other words, 
have shaded meanings. There could never be more 
than one real meaning of a word when used in a figu- 

104 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

rative sense, while recognizing a standard of lan- 
guage, any more than there could be two or more 
meanings to a word in a literal sense. Such a use of 
words would make human language unintelligible un- 
der any circumstances, and God has never so used 
them. 

Then this beast, this spiritual wilderness, repre- 
sents a kingdom without a crown, and yet it is com- 
posed of many nations and peoples and tongues. We 
necessarily conclude that a spiritual wilderness is com- 
posed of people in a state of interregnum, without 
laws, which are spiritual guides. This condition will 
be brought upon this union of kingdoms and crowns, 
with its peoples and nations and tongues, by being 
smitten by the kingdom of God, as Daniel foretells it 
will be. They are driven into this wilderness by the 
man child of the church, who was to rule them with 
a rod of iron, and who will, by the power of his blood 
shed while guided by God's word, in martyrdom, 
break down every kingdom and empire on earth, and 
thus drive the nations into a spiritual wilderness. Be- 
fore the strength and power of the word of God 
in the life of the man child of the church, m mar- 
tyrdom, every crown and law of man will fall, and 
the people of the earth will become a spiritual wilder- 
ness, will " become like the chaff of the summer thresh- 
ing floors," as here shown. 



105 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



CHAPTER IX. 



The Beast of the Book of Revelation. His Seven 
Heads and Ten Horns. Christian Union Shown by 
the Woman Clothed with the Sun. Denominational 
Union Shown by the Harlot Woman, Mystery 
Babylon. Showing the Beast in a Reorganized 
State After It Falls Beneath the Weight of the 
Harlot Woman. 

What is this "beast" of the book of Revelation? 
This is a question over which the imaginations of men 
have froilcked for centuries. In the attempts made 
to define this great beast, as far as we have seen, all 
appear to have overlooked the fact that no man is 
gifted with powers to guess the meaning of symbols 
used by God or even by other authors. If we ever 
learn the meaning placed in a symbol by any author, 
we must let the author who placed it there show the 
meaning. No other definition is certain. This is in- 
fallible. Then, as God is the author of the Bible, we 
can rest assured that if we ever learn the full symbolic 
description of the beast of the Apocalypse we must 
diligently search for the meaning of each symbolic 
word as God has used it. The figurative meaning of 
the word " beast " is given by Daniel. He says : 
" These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, 
that shall arise out of the earth." (Dan. 7: 17.) 

106 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

" Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be a fourth 
kingdom upon earth." (Dan. 7: 23.) Here we have 
Daniel calling a beast a " king " in one instance and a 
" kingdom " in another. We have seen his reason for 
this in Chapter VIII. of this volume, and refer the 
reader to that chapter for the explanation. A king 
may be a kingdom, but a kingdom is never a king. 
God never has called a king a " kingdom " unless he 
held all the powers and prerogatives of a kingdom. 
Thus it is true that a beast would not be a king unless 
the king was a kingdom and held all its powers. 
These four kings do this. They are truly kingdoms, 
and, therefore, figuratively, beasts. Thus God calls 
these four beasts " kingdoms " even when he says they 
are kings. They are sole monarchs, as the history 
shows. The fourth beast is the fourth kingdom, or 
form of government. The word " beast " at all times 
symbolizes a human kingdom. A beast has but one 
constitution ; and when the word " beast " is applied 
to a kingdom, it shows a federal union under one con- 
stitution, even though every nation of earth composed 
its body. 

The ordinary meaning of the word " head " denotes 
the point of dominion of a beast or a man, which point 
guides and directs and controls all the body. In the 
description of this beast, as we find it in the twelfth 
chapter, this meaning is emphasized by showing seven 
crowns on his seven heads — seven legal rulers, or 
kings ; but in the seventeenth chapter we see him with 
the seven points of dominion, the seven heads with- 
out a crown, or ruler, and the angel tells John : " The 
seven heads are seven mountains." (Rev. 17: 9.) 

107 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

Here we find the word " head " expressed by a figu- 
rative word, and unless we can find what God means 
by the figurative use of the word " mountain " we 
can never comprehend all he means by the word 
" head " as here used. Daniel tells us that the stone 
was cut out of a mountain. (Dan. 2: 45.) This 
use of the word " mountain " points to the source of 
the body of God's kingdom, or church, the people who 
composed the body when the church was set up. 

The people who composed the first church, or body 
of Christians representing or symbolizing the kingdom 
of God, are here said to be taken out of a mountain. 
The gospel was first preached to and accepted by 
some of the Jewish nation. Whether the church was 
composed of one hundred and twenty or some thou- 
sands when first established, it is certain they were all 
taken out of the Jewish nation, or, figuratively speak- 
ing, the Jewish " mountain." 

Then the beast in the twelfth chapter of Revelation 
had seven heads with seven crowns, seven nations 
with seven rulers, presiding over a great body com- 
posed of many waters, many nations, many peoples, 
and many tongues. 

" With seven heads and ten horns." From the 
above we learn that the seven heads are seven great 
nations, leading all the world and dominating the many 
nations and tongues of earth, which make up the body 
of the beast, and which are in as perfect union at that 
time as the different parts of an image of a man or 
the different parts of a living beast are in union. 
These seven nations are the seven heads of the beast 
of the book of Revelation. 

108 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

What are the ten horns of this beast? The word 
" horn," when applied in its ordinary sense and mean- 
ing to an ordinary beast, is not a figurative word, and 
could never be unless the beast is a figurative beast, 
like it is in this case. To find the figurative meaning 
of a nonfigurative word used in connection with a figu- 
rative thing, we must find the natural meaning of the 
word in its natural connection, unless otherwise de- 
fined by God, and apply its natural meaning to the 
figurative thing. The horn of a real beast is the 
sword of a beast, used to defend the body and life of 
the beast and to make war with. The horn of a beast 
is its weapon for war, as well as for defensive use. 
In the horn of a beast is centered the physical power 
of the body united for defensive and aggressive war- 
fare. Therefore the ten horns of the beast of the 
Apocalypse represent, or symbolize, ten swords of this 
great union of " waters," nations, tongues, and peo- 
ples which compose the body and heads of this colos- 
sal kingdom. They are for the defense of the body 
and constitution of the kingdom, as well as for its 
aggressive use in war. There is no organ of a king- 
dom with the function of a horn on a beast which is 
not solely for use in defensive and aggressive warfare. 
The horn of a kingdom, like the horn of a beast, must 
have within itself the functions and powers used for 
defending and making war for the kingdom. The 
captain general of a kingdom, like the horn of a beast, 
has no other function or office in a kingdom but that 
of defending and making war for a kingdom. Then 
the ten horns of the beast of the Apocalypse are ten 
captain generals of this great union of nations and 

109 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

tongues and peoples. The presence of a captain general 
shows the existence of an army. It requires an army 
to make good his function. The ten horns are the ten 
swords of this great international union of kingdoms, 
and they wield the martial power of the many nations 
and people and tongues which compose its body by 
controlling and guiding the ten great armies which 
defend and support its international constitution. A 
captain general is a man, is the sword of a kingdom ; 
and such an organ in a kingdom can exist alone at the 
head of its army. An army of a kingdom gives to its 
captain general the whole power of the kingdom in 
war, like the bone and sinew of a beast give the 
strength of its body to the horn in .battle. A captain 
general has no function in a kingdom not clearly pos- 
sessed by a horn on a beast. A beast is God's symbol 
for a kingdom, and it is as certain that its horn sym- 
bolizes a captain general of a kingdom as it is certain 
that a captain general is the sword of a kingdom. No 
kingdom can attempt, or ever did attempt, to defend 
itself or make war without using a captain general 
supported by an army. Neither does a beast attempt 
to make war or to defend itself without using its horn. 
A horn on a beast is never used in the peaceful hours 
of a beast; neither has a kingdom any use for a cap- 
tain general except in war. They are identical in 
function, in organic connection and purpose ; and 
nothing could more beautifully symbolize the captain 
general of a kingdom than the horn of a beast. This 
is our definition of a horn on a symbolic beast. Let 
us now get God's definition. It is sure. 

In harmony with this deduced meaning of the word 
110 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

" horn " from its relation to a beast, a part of which 
it is, we find the word used and applied by God like- 
wise to a man or captain general. (Zech. 1 : 18-21.) 
This scripture is cited by some commentators to show 
that the word " horn " means " power." This is not 
true. The word " power " has no specific and special 
reference to anything particular, but may be applica- 
ble to any force which can affect or move any other 
force or thing in the universe. To say that the word 
" horn " is a power is not to define it, but it is to mis- 
use the word, so much so that it can be applied to al- 
most anything under the sun. Under this definition 
the word " horn " may mean God, Satan, heat, cold, 
light, darkness, truth, error, a human kingdom, the 
kingdom of God, heaven, hell, or any other force. 
This is a handy definition with which to pervert almost 
any passage of scripture. 

In the above reference to Zechariah there is no doubt 
that the four horns symbolize the four kings, or rulers, 
of the four great dynasties which scattered the Jews 
over the whole earth. These four horns used by God 
for scattering the Jews began with Nebuchadnezzar, 
king of Babylon, and ended with Titus, the Roman 
general, who completed that work. This scripture 
reads thus: "And I lifted up mine eyes, and, behold, 
four horns. . . . These are the [four] horns 
which scattered Judah, so that no man did lift 
up his head." (Zech. 1: 18-21.) When the scatter- 
ing of Judah began, Nebuchadnezzar, who was the 
captain general of the Babylonian empire, took Jeru- 
salem and carried away the Jews. He was the sword, 
the horn, of the kingdom of Babylon, who first began 

111 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



the work of scattering Judah. At the time this work 
was completed the Romans sent their captain general, 
Titus, one of their horns, for warfare — to take Jeru- 
salem and finish this work of scattering the nation of 
the Jews. These captain generals, these horns, began 
and finished this work. The use of the word " horn " 
in this scripture could not be more clearly in harmony 
with the meaning we deduce from the natural meaning 
of the word " horn " as being a sword of a beast, a 
captain general of a kingdom. We have the word 
" horn " here applied by God, and we have it perfectly 
and legitimately deduced from its organic connection 
and functional purpose on a natural beast. No one need 
accept our interpretation, but he must accept God's. 

We quote further : " The ram which thou sawest, 
that had the two horns, they are the kings of Media 
and Persia. And the rough he goat is the king of 
Greece : and the great horn that is between his eyes is 
the first king." (Dan. 8: 20, 21.) This is what God 
symboHzes by a " horn." It is a man. The first king 
of Greece was Alexander the Great, one of the great- 
est captain generals known to human history. He was 
one of the horns that scattered Judah. Let us not 
forget that if we find the true meaning of a figurative 
word one place in the Bible, it invariably stands for 
the same thing every other place in that book. Try 
to translate a few figurative words by God's use of 
them in the Bible, and you will be astonished at the 
consistency and harmony of that wonderful book in 
its use of figurative words. 

2 Sam. 22 shows a horn is an executor, either God 
or man — one who can fight battles and make war. 
The word " horn," when used figuratively throughout 

112 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

the Bible, represents God or man as a warrior directing 
and controlling either temporal or spiritual belligerent 
powers. 

" Full of names of blasphemy." Blasphemy is an 
evil and derogatory speech, involving falsehood, and 
most generally, if not always, embraces malicious in- 
tent. When applied to God, Christ, or the Holy Spirit, 
it invariably detracts from their honor, greatness, and 
supremacy. Then a " name of blasphemy " is a name 
which dishonors, degrades, and detracts from the dig- 
nity and greatness of the name of God, Christ, or the 
Holy Spirit. 

No doubt the names referred to here are the many 
denominational names which now fill the kingdoms of 
Christendom. 

How wonderfully accurate, economic, and precise is 
the God of the Bible in all his statements ! He fore- 
tells here the existence of these denominational names 
some decades before any of them existed. Some of 
them came on the earth many centuries ago, yet the 
first verse in the Apocalypse indirectly tells us that 
not a prophecy will be fulfilled until near, or " shortly " 
before, the coming of Christ. Is this a fulfilled proph- 
ecy? These names are now here, and no doubt they 
are the very names foretold by God some eighteen 
centuries ago. These names are, no doubt, the very 
names that will be here and in use at the time they are 
all destroyed and utterly rooted up by a future king- 
dom, as we will see in another chapter. If these names 
have been foretold and have been here for centuries, 
then here is a prophecy which has been fulfilled many 
centuries before the coming of Christ, and it is out 
8 113 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

of harmony with this first verse in the Apocalypse. 
From a superficial view this would appear to be true, 
and it would be true if these names in the past had 
been " names of blasphemy ; " but they have not been 
such in the past and are not now "names of blas- 
phemy." But God here foretells the time, the when 
and the how, they will in fact and in truth grow into 
and become " names of blasphemy." We can see them 
now, and have seen them for decades, receiving and 
fellowshiping religious infidels and thus tending to- 
ward the end of degrading and debasing the names of 
God and of Christ. They thus have grown year by 
year and decade by decade in that direction. They are 
fast growing into hotbeds for infidelity, and they will 
yet richly and abundantly earn these very names. 
They have for scores of years been nurturing and fos- 
tering in the schools and colleges which they own 
throughout the land the worst, the most evil, as well as 
the most powerful, class of infidels. They are wolves 
in sheep's clothing — men who claim and receive our 
confidence in the name of Christ, our Savior, then 
teach our sons and daughters that the word of God is 
unreliable; that the great God of the Bible, who cre- 
ated man and the universe, is but little higher, if any, 
than Mohammed or Buddha. 

This class of infidels will transmute these denomi- 
national names, which have been loved, cherished, 
honored, and venerated through the ages, into prosti- 
tute houses of infidelity and pure and unmistakable 
" names of blasphemy." They will be " names of 
blasphemy " at a time when every true Christian in 
them can see the handwriting on the wall and will un- 

114 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

derstand this revelation and come out of them. They 
will become " names of blasphemy " when they shall 
form themselves into a great "moon" (Rev. 12: 1), 
a great spiritual city (Rev. 17: 18) ; and by the power 
of the first universal kingdom of earth, which their 
city will rule and be ruling when it falls, they will 
become drunken on the blood of saints and martyrs 
of Jesus, and yet continue to wear these names within 
a federated union (Rev. 17: 6-18). At the time these 
events transpire there will not be a single true Chris- 
tian in any one of them; but they will be filled with 
religious infidels, and they will then have fully earned 
the title of " names of blasphemy " which God applies 
to them at that time. There is nothing and there has 
been nothing in Christendom, through all the ages, 
which can fulfill this prophecy so fully and so accu- 
rately as the denominations of Christendom when 
they contain no Christians. This dominion of reli- 
gious infidels will bring the beginning of the fall and 
dissolution of Christendom. They will create a storm 
of persecution around God's church and his people 
through the political power of this federation of these 
denominations after all Christians have left them, 
which will lead to their own ruin and utter passing 
away, as well as the wreck and destruction of every 
institution of great Christendom. The revelation 
shows that these denominations will be swept from 
earth about eleven hundred days before the coming of 
Christ and the beginning of his millennium. When 
we look upon these great and truly religious denomina- 
tions, with their teeming millions of loyal-hearted, rev- 
erential, and devout men and women, living in a boun- 

115 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

tiful land, blessed and which has been blessed by their 
existence, it is hard for us to beheve it is possible for 
these things to come on the earth. Man may not 
choose. God has appointed the harvest, but in his 
great and unspeakable loving-kindness and tender 
mercy to his servants he has completely veiled and hid- 
den from them the time for these great trials to come 
to pass. The author rejoices in the certainty that the 
time for these fearful revolutions to transpire is un- 
revealed and was never known even to the most hon- 
ored of all the inspired men that have ever lived. 

" Scarlet-colored beast." The word " red," with its 
shades of color, when used in the Bible in a figurative 
sense, means " sin." " Though your sins be as scarlet, 
they shall be as white as snow ; though they be red like 
crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isa. 1: 18.) The 
different colors are used to symbolize characters 
throughout the Bible. The character of this kingdom, 
or beast, is symbolized by the color which represents 
the whole catalogue of sins. The words " red " or 
" scarlet " are never used in the Bible to represent 
blood or bloody institutions, though they embrace the 
shedding of blood when it is a sinful act. 

Here we have all the parts of the beast of the book 
of Revelation, with its character defined by God; and 
it is, therefore, easy for us to know with certainty just 
what this beast is. Let us reread the scriptures : " I 
will show thee the judgment of the great harlot that 
sitteth upon many waters." (Rev. 17: 1.) "And he 
carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness: and 
I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored beast." 
(Rev. 17: 3.) "The waters which thou sawest, 

116 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, 
and nations, and tongues." (Rev. 17: 15.) The place 
where the woman " sitteth " was on a scarlet-colored 
beast full of " names of blasphemy " — was on many 
waters, many peoples and multitudes and nations and 
tongues. Therefore it is perfectly certain that the 
body and heads of the beast are composed of many 
peoples, many multitudes, many nations, and many 
tongues, all united by one constitution, like the body 
of a beast, and filled with the denominations of Chris- 
tendom. It is dominated and ruled by seven heads, 
seven points of dominion, seven mountains, seven na- 
tions, with the dominion and kingdom supported and 
defended by ten captain generals, who wield the mar- 
tial power of this colossal, this international union of 
nations and peoples and tongues. 

The beast of the Apocalypse, as given in chapters 
12 and 17, is a union of the nations of Christendom, 
a union of the whole earth, divided into seven prov- 
inces, under seven rulers, and, therefore, under a pro- 
vincial or Babylonian form of government, similar to 
that of the United States. 

The seven heads are seven great nations, dividing 
the world among themselves into seven provinces and 
uniting the whole body by a federal constitution like 
the parts of one and the same beast. This will be the 
condition at the fall of the first universal kingdom 
ever existing on the earth. 

The " names of blasphemy," as we have seen, are the 
denominational names of Christendom when divested 
of every true Christian, and they show this union of 
kingdoms to embrace the whole world after all nations 

117 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

have mingled themselves with the " seed of men." 
This places the first universal kingdom in the future. 
That this union embraces every nation of earth is 
clearly shown, for in describing the beast in the wil- 
derness, while it exists without a ruler or crown, John 
says : " For by the wine of the wrath of her [the har- 
lot woman's] fornication all the nations are fallen." 
(Rev. 18: 3.) All nations, tongues, tribes, and peo- 
ples of earth are here united under one federal law. 

The whole beast is ruled by that great city called 
" Mystery, Babylon," which shows it to be Christen- 
dom nations, like the " mingling of the seed of men," 
as given by Daniel, shows the union of the kingdoms 
in the image to be Christendom nations. Daniel shows 
the heathen nations mingling themselves with the word 
of God, or " seed of men," and thus producing Chris- 
tendom kingdoms. He shows these conditions com- 
plete at the very time of the existence of this image 
and its collision with the church. John shows the 
union of the nations and tongues ruled over by a 
harlot woman, or a harlot religious people, and thus 
shows Christendom with her people in union. 

We find these seven nations will adopt the creed of 
the "moon," or religious body of people, of John's 
vision as a spiritual light for the world in place of 
God's 'word, the " sun." We conclude that this will 
lead to wars and subjugation and enforced acceptance 
of this creed by all other nations. The wars and 
conquests of the world by these seven great nations 
for this dark purpose will be no ordinary wars, but 
they will arise from religious opinions and infidelities 
in God's word and will affect the world and the peo- 

118 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

pie of God in the most vital and appalling manner. 
This is shown by the church with its feet on another 
religious people with their creed, while the other peo- 
ple with their creed are supported by the united mar- 
tial power of all the earth. When these internal wars 
shall end, they will all be in one body, under the domin- 
ion of seven nations, who will then have complete do- 
minion of all the earth, existing under the light and 
dominion of a spiritual moon — an international woman, 
with an international creed. When this great federal 
government comes under the harlot woman, the ruler 
of this kingdom and promulgator of these ideas, she 
will then be ready to turn her attention to the com- 
plete enforcement of her doctrine and the overshad- 
owing of all other creeds. Just what parts of the Bible 
will be cut out by the enactment of law or what the 
antagonistic features of this creed to the Bible will 
be, no one can tell with certainty until they are pro- 
claimed. Yet we can say with certainty that it will 
reject the Christ as being the Son of God, for this is 
the foundation of his church. She is not standing on 
this fact, but she is beneath it, is under this fact, the 
feet of the church. This much of her creed is shown. 
When this is done, then will the people of God in all 
the denominations of earth who have a real live faith 
in God's word come forth and come out of their many 
spiritual houses. They will be united and bound to- 
gether in singleness of heart and purpose to pour out 
their blood, if need be, for their faith and love of 
God and to uphold his word. This will be the first 
Christian union in all the ages. Then will the people 
of God be delivered up to be afflicted, and they will be 

119 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

hated of all nations. (Matt. 24: 8.) Then will the 
church of God cry, "travailing in birth, and in pain 
to be delivered." (Rev. 12: 2.) Then will the strong 
people, the manly generation of the word of God, the 
man child of that seed and generation, be found in the 
midst of God's people, in the metes and bounds of his 
church. Then will this strong people, by the power 
of his blood shed in meekness and martyrdom by and 
for the word of God, which is from its inflexibility 
called " a rod of iron," decrown the seven heads of 
this red dragon and drive the nations into a wilder- 
ness. At that time there will not be found a single 
man or woman whom God recognizes as a Christian 
in any denomination on the whole earth. 

"And he stood upon the sand of the sea [the " many 
waters"]. And I saw a beast coming up out of the 
sea [the spiritual wilderness, composed of many wa- 
ters, many nations, many tongues], having ten horns 
and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and 
upon his heads names of blasphemy." (Rev. 13: 1.) 
The seven heads, the seven great nations, come out 
of this wilderness, under this reorganization of the 
kingdom, without the crowns they wore in the twelfth 
chapter before they went into the wilderness. The 
ten captain generals show the ambitions of the hu- 
man heart by putting crowns upon their own heads 
amid the wild scene of a spiritual wilderness, amid 
fallen kings and laws, and they leave the seven nations 
still wearing the " names of blasphemy." The lovers 
of the many denominational names in Christendom 
display their human nature when in the wilderness, 
where no law of coercion exists, by proclaiming anew 

120 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM - 

their independent names. The people of the harlot 
woman hold up their golden cup, their federal consti- 
tution, which contains the doctrine and seed by which 
she committed her spiritual fornication with the seven 
heads of the beast. " With whom the kings of the 
earth committed fornication." (Rev. 17: 2.) This 
expression shows that the kings, all the kings of the 
earth, were embraced in the beast upon which the har- 
lot woman rode, and it shows the universal reign of 
this kingdom as foretold by Daniel — a thing which has 
never yet been. No local kingdom, or even dynasty, 
has ever yet held such extensive dominion as is de- 
scribed by Daniel ; but John here, by completing Dan- 
iel's history, shows such dominion will be under the 
seven nations, embodying the full-grown power of 
democracy, united under a Babylonian or provincial 
form of government, under the harlot woman, who, 
like Nebuchadnezzar, will be king of kings. 



121 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



CHAPTER X. 



"Mystery, Babylon," Defined. She Is Not the 
Romish Church, but She Is That Great City, a 
Union of Many Spiritual Houses. 



After examining the proofs given in the last three 
chapters, showing the characteristics, the descriptive 
marks, of both the beast and the woman of the twelfth 
chapter of the Apocalypse, the reader is better pre- 
pared to accept the fact that the " moon " under the 
feet of the woman is an international religious body 
of people, and, therefore, encompassed by an inter- 
national creed. The proofs that this " moon " and 
creed are international rest upon several clearly 
shown facts. In the first place, the beast, as 
shown in the twelfth, seventeenth, and eighteenth 
chapters of the Apocalypse, is an international body 
and embraces every nation, tribe, and tongue of earth. 
In that scene there is but one " moon " and one reli- 
gious creed for its people. It is thus shown to be 
extensive enough to be in the presence of every na- 
tion of earth at one and the same time; for when 
John shows this same beast in the wilderness, or in an 
interregnum, he says : " For by the wine of the wrath 
of her fornication all the nations are fallen." (Rev. 
18: 3.) This is part of the description of this beast 
after its collision with the church, and it embraces 

122 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

all the nations of earth. It is a real, as well as the 
first universal, kingdom. The woman could never 
stand before and in the presence of an earthly king- 
dom which embraced all nations, unless her body was 
international ; neither could this moon, this one moon, 
in this scene be in the presence of every nation of 
earth and at the same time be under the feet of an 
international body of people, unless it was itself inter- 
national. These facts make it certain that the moon 
of this vision is a religious body of people — a moon 
encompassed within a universal or international reli- 
gious creed. 

" I will show thee the judgment of the great harlot 
that sitteth upon many waters." (Rev. 17: 1.) 

The figurative woman of the Bible, as we have 
seen, is always a religious body of people, either wor- 
shiping or pretending to worship the God of the Bible. 
(John 3: 29; Rev. 18: 17.) 

It is claimed by commentators of all denominations, 
except the Roman Catholic denomination, that this har- 
lot woman is a symbol of the Roman Catholic Church. 
This has been repeated incessantly by good people 
without sufficient proof, for there is no testimony to 
sustain it. For any one to make this claim is to show 
that he does not understand the meaning of the words 
used, is to show that he does not understand whether 
these scenes have already transpired or are yet to tran- 
spire. 

The Roman Church has never been more nor less 
than one denomination, and for ages has been a sin- 
gle denomination among many denominations. She 
has never been but one spiritual house. But this 

123 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

woman is a city, and is, therefore, composed of a 
plurality of houses. " The woman whom thou sawest 
is the great city ["Mystery, Babylon"], which reign- 
eth over the kings of the earth." (Rev. 17: 18.) 
That the Roman Church is not the great harlot of the 
Apocalypse is certain from the fact that no single 
house is a " great city." This fact alone ought to 
silence such a claim. A material house is not a material 
city, neither is a spiritual house a spiritual city. A 
material house is a place of residence, and all the de- 
partments of a house are united by constitution, by a 
law of construction, into a single house under one 
head, or ruler. But a city is a constitutional federal 
union of a plurality of houses standing along its high- 
ways or streets, with many things in common. The 
houses of a city always exist in a federated league in 
one body under a single constitution. The Roman 
Church is one spiritual house, and only one, with its 
many local departments ; and it was built under a law 
of construction without a view for the fraternal ex- 
istence of other sister spiritual houses in its neigh- 
borhood, and no other spiritual house has ever been 
built on any place provided by the founders of the 
Roman Church like houses are built in a city. 

The Roman Church represents but one spiritual 
house; and it is, therefore, certain that it is not a 
city and could not in any sense be symbolized by a 
woman who represents or symbolizes a city. The 
harlot woman of the Apocalypse, no matter who she 
is, is composed of a plurality of spiritual houses, is a 
spiritual city; and her existence and reign will be as 
brief as the first union of all the kingdoms of earth 

124 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

after that union becomes prophetic will be brief. Her 
history and this union of kingdoms after they become 
prophetic cover the same brief period in these prophe- 
cies. Not a man who ever lived as a part of the body 
of the Roman Church ever saw the beast of the Apoc- 
alypse; neither has any other man ever seen such a 
union of kingdoms. While no man in the past has 
ever seen such a union of kingdoms and crowns and 
nations and tongues as the apostle here describes, yet 
it is perfectly certain that the fornicating religious 
people who compose the body of the harlot woman of 
this vision will see this union, for the apostle tells us 
this harlot woman will ride upon this very beast in a 
spiritual wilderness. A great religious reformer has 
said : " God's people cannot come out of Babylon un- 
less they are in Babylon." Let us add that they can- 
not come out of Babylon before there is a Babylon. 
When " Mystery, Babylon," shall exist, she will be a 
constitutional union, a federation of spiritual houses. 
She will be supported by the power of seven great 
federated nations, and thus be able to commit forni- 
cation with every king of the earth, cause them to 
support her doctrine in an international creed, which 
will give the only human legalized spiritual light to 
this great union of kings and nations and tongues. 
On the other hand, the Roman denomination has 
never at any time in the past ruled the people of 
earth, for all the people of earth have never at any 
time been under the dominion of the kingdoms she 
rode in her palmiest days. Neither were her king- 
doms ever united into one body by one law, or consti- 
tution, like the parts of the body of a beast are united 

125 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

by one constitution. The Roman Church has never, 
either in a wilderness or out of a wilderness, rode 
upon a beast with seven heads and ten horns; and 
she never will, for the Roman Church will continue 
to be a single spiritual house until she, with her sister 
houses, are all united, willingly or by coercion, into 
one great city, which will be supported by a univer- 
sal kingdom, with seven great nations ruling all the 
earth. At no other time can we look for this harlot 
woman to exist, for there is no history of her exist- 
ence except during the brief prophetic reign of this 
kingdom. Such a kingdom has never yet existed; 
neither has " Mystery, Babylon." 

The Roman Church, by her sins and cruelties in 
the darker ages of the Christian era, held a desultory 
and superstitious dominion over several local king- 
doms of earth. She never even attempted to unite 
them into a provincial government composing one 
body, like they vnll be under the dominion of " Mys- 
tery, Babylon." It is true, she acquired great notoriety 
and hatred in the eyes of the world by the unbridled 
use of her powers, secured by her spiritual forni- 
cation with a number of the kings of the earth. Yet, 
for all her notoriety and sins, she has never been dig- 
nified by a notice from God in any way to single her 
out or distinguish her from her many sister denomi- 
nations. To comprehend these statements is to com- 
prehend the fact that when God talks of this great 
city he is not talking of one spiritual house and call- 
ing it a great city or anything which is in any great 
respect like the Roman Church ; but he is talking of a 

126 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

union of a plurality of spiritual houses into one body, 
which makes, and which alone makes, a city. 

The city of God contains a plurality of houses. Its 
body is composed of men in the flesh, resurrected 
men, and angels. Paul tells us of at least these three 
houses. He says : " But ye are come unto mount Zion, 
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly 
Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels, to 
the general assembly and church of the firstborn who 
are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, 
and to the spirits of just men made perfect." (Heb. 
12: 22, 23.) The city of God is thus shown to con- 
tain a plurality of spiritual houses. In one we find 
men in the flesh ; in another, angels ; and in another, 
resurrected men. None of these classes are under the 
same law. A different constitution, or spiritual house, 
is prepared for each. Men in the flesh are not un- 
der the same laws that embrace the angels of heaven 
and resurrected men. 

Spiritual Babylon and the beast of the book of Reve- 
lation will coexist. That this woman, "Mystery, 
Babylon," has never existed in the past is also as 
certain as it is certain that there never has been a 
union of God's people since the apostolic age. God's 
people, symbolized by the woman clothed with the 
sun, will stand in the presence of the same seven- 
headed beast on which this harlot will ride. It is also 
as certain that this woman has never existed in the 
past or present as it is certain that all the kingdoms 
of earth, after being united into one body under seven 
crowns, have never existed in a spiritual wilderness, 
or interregnum, in the past or present; for we find 

127 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

this woman there riding this beast in the very begin- 
ning of her judgments and trials. Then if the Ro- 
man Church is not the great harlot of the Apocalypse, 
who or what will compose that great city ? 

The words " woman," " harlot," and " city " locate 
this union of houses in the land of Christendom at a 
later date than the present time. The word " woman " 
means, figuratively, as we have seen, a religious body 
of people worshiping, or pretending to worship, the 
God of the Bible ; the word " city " always refers to a 
constitutional league embracing under its laws a plu- 
rality of houses ; the word " harlot," when coupled 
with a religious body of people, shows the legalized 
support of their doctrine by the martial power of a 
king, or ruler, for nothing but this is spiritual forni- 
cation between such bodies. The word " woman " 
has never been applied by God to any people but those 
claiming to be Jews or Christians. This narrows the 
components of this city down to a plurality of spirit- 
ual houses composed of either Jews or Christendom 
religious people. God never called a body of true fol- 
lowers a " harlot." While the Jewish nation has ex- 
isted for four thousand years, yet at no time has it 
ruled a universal kingdom composed of every na- 
tion, tongue, and tribe of earth. This should elimi- 
nate the Jews. They have often been called a " har- 
lot woman," but never were they called a " harlot 
woman " and " city " by God. They have never been 
a city. They are one house, distinguished from all 
other worshipers, or pretended worshipers, of God 
by a legal fleshly mark. During the last four thou- 
sand years the Jewish nation has not ruled, and never 

t28 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

will rule, every nation of earth like the fornicating 
religious people who will compose the houses of that 
great city which " reigneth over the kings of the 
earth " will yet do. The Jewish people compose one 
house. The Roman Catholics compose one house, one 
denomination. But the denominations of Christendom 
are a multitude, compose many spiritual houses, and 
all it will require to make of them one great city will 
be their incorporation under a federal law. 

Christendom denominations were born to rule 
earthly governments. This is characteristic of them. 
They began to reach for the scepter of dominion be- 
fore the year 315 A.D., when this spirit of religion 
caused the Roman empire to abolish paganism and 
mingle itself with the word of God, the " seed of 
men." From that day to this, through every century, 
they have been born by the score. 

They have, through the past ages, dominated the 
kings and rulers in every great and powerful kingdom 
of earth. In their divided and separate spiritual 
houses they now dominate and own most of the king- 
doms of earth. When these many spiritual houses 
once form a strong, aspiring, and powerful federation, 
they will as surely grasp the reigns of all the king- 
doms of earth as these statements of the beloved apos- 
tle John are true. He shows them doing so. 

The houses in any city are under one and the same 
supreme law. In any city each house surrenders some 
of its independence when it comes under a corporate 
law. The houses of this city will do the same thing. 
This great city will exist when a federation of the 
denominations exist. It will be composed of these very 
houses. They now possess many of the marks and 
9 129 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

characteristics, and will finally possess every mark and 
characteristic, necessary to fulfill the requirements of 
this spiritual city. They are all worshipers, or pre- 
tended worshipers, of the God of the Bible. They 
are each thus figuratively a woman. When incorpo- 
rated under a federal law, they will be a spiritual city. 
When they offer their service and prostitute the wor- 
ship of the God of the Bible in exchange for the sup- 
port of seven rulers, or kings, in seven great nations 
of earth to support a federal creed, they will then, 
under this federal law, be " a harlot," " a woman," 
" a city." When a federation of the denominations 
attains sufficient strength and influence, and while 
smarting under the sting of these scriptures, unless 
human nature changes, she will prostitute her worship 
in exchange for the support of the kings of earth in 
behalf of her creed and the power to mutilate the Bi- 
ble. She will mutilate the Bible by legal authority 
from seven great kingdoms, which she will then be 
ruling, by taking her own prophetic picture out of these 
prophecies and declaring her unbelief in Christ as the 
Son of God. The denominations are the only institu- 
tions that ever have possessed all the characteristics 
necessary to fulfill this prophecy. They are destined 
by God to do so. They will, sooner or later, form 
this great city. They will fulfill the word of God and 
perform these, the greatest of human sins, when they 
obtain the power to do so. This scene is laid in Chris- 
tendom. Not a mark or characteristic on this har- 
lot which will not be clearly seen in a future federa- 
tion of Christendom churches when she once attains 
that solidity in ecclesiastical union which God in these 
prophecies foretells she will attain. 

130 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

A city is not made by destroying the houses in a 
neighborhood and incorporating their ruin, but each 
house is left standing on its own foundation and en- 
compassed by a federal league or common constitu- 
tion. This " great city " will be formed the same way. 
Each denomination will be left with its own struc- 
ture intact and be taken into the walls of this spiritual 
city, either willingly or by coercion. As each denomi- 
nation enters the city, it will be received without a 
change in its architecture or otherwise, except a sur- 
render of certain liberties and freedom of action it 
enjoys as an independent denomination. This is the 
way all cities are formed. This great city will be 
formed the same way. 

The components of " Mystery, Babylon," exist to- 
day and are being prepared for this union. They ex- 
ist in different houses, and not within the constitution, 
or creed, of a great spiritual city that could be sym- 
bolized by a harlot woman, for the parts of a woman 
are bound together by a single constitution. There is 
nothing plainer or more certain in God*s word than 
that the woman, " Mystery, Babylon," does not repre- 
sent the Roman Church or any other single name or 
spiritual house in Christendom. She is that great 
city which is yet to be formed and have a brief exist- 
ence on earth, at a time when the creeds of all the 
denominations of Christendom are overshadowed by 
her federal creed, and they are incorporated into one 
body under a single constitution, like the parts of the 
body of a woman or a city exist under one law of 
construction. This city, this union of the denomina- 
tions under a federal ecclesiastical government, will ex- 
ist amid a union of the kingdoms of earth ; and at the 

131 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

same time the people of God throughout the earth will 
be united into one great body, for they will come out of 
these houses to a man. "And I saw the woman drunken 
with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the 
martyrs of Jesus." These afflictions of God's church will 
purify and make the souls of men white and prepare 
them to reign on the earth with Christ a thousand 
years. They will be so strong and brave and loyal 
to God amid these trials and tribulations that they 
will paint with their blood, upon the broad canvas of 
life, a holy scene of sublime faith and trust in God, 
which will proclaim throughout the universe the glory 
and wisdom of God in the creation of man. They 
will be a holy and bright crown on God's work in cre- 
ating Adam and glorify and exalt his wisdom in this, 
his greatest work known to man. They will be so 
beloved and honored by God that he tells us that they 
will be translated — will be born by a transit from a life 
of sorrow and tribulation on earth to a glorified state 
at the throne of God. With their ascent to the throne 
of God in heaven will begin salvation from death. 
They will be the very firstborn of all the children of 
the church. 

"And the woman was arrayed In purple and scarlet 
[showing her dominion and wickedness], and decked 
with gold and precious stone and pearls." (Rev. 
17:4.) 

The wealth of Christendom at the beginning of 
these scenes will be represented by gold, precious 
stones, and pearls. Silver will be completely demon- 
etized throughout the world at that time. 

"And upon her forehead a name written, Mystery^ 
132 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 



Babylon the Great, the Mother of the Harlots and of 
the Abominations of the Earth/' (Rev. 17: 5.) 

This city exists in law, is a spiritual city. The word 
" mystery " is in many respects synonymous with the 
word " spiritual." It means hidden, unseen, unknown. 
(1 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 1:9; Rev. 1 : 20.) To human un- 
derstanding a spirit is incomprehensible. Who can 
define or explain the components of the spirit of man? 
Who can tell us what the spirit of man is or analyze 
its composition ? Spirit will forever remain a mystery 
to man. " Mystery, Babylon," is spiritual Babylon, 
for the meaning of the word " spiritual " points to 
unseen, hidden things. Spiritual things are recognized 
by their manifestations. This city will and can be 
seen in no other way. It will be a spiritual city, recog- 
nized by its manifestations through law. She will be 
the mother of every harlot infidel denomination on 
earth when she carries them within the metes and 
bounds of her body. 

We have now, by God's word, identified every mark 
of both the beast of the book of Revelation and the 
great city, " Mystery, Babylon," as the union of the 
degenerated material now existing in what is called 
" Christian nations." When these great unions are 
formed, it will be but the gathering together of the 
finished material which has been in preparation for 
ages by the unseen hand, the mystic work of a way- 
ward religious spirit, which will culminate her glory 
and sin in these great bodies. When these unions are 
complete, there will not be a Christian in any denomi- 
nation on the whole earth. They will come out of the 
denominations and compose the first Christian union 
of all the ages since the beginning of the Christian era. 

133 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



CHAPTER XL 



The Seven Christendom Kings and the Judgment 
of the Harlot. The Wounded Head of the Beast. 
The Kingdom of the Ten Kings Is a Paternal King- 
dom. 

We must yet examine some other expressions in the 
seventeenth chapter of these visions before we are 
fully prepared to comprehend the judgments and trials 
of the "harlot woman." Every kingdom in Christendom 
is to-day, of course, dominated by the religious people 
found in the denominations; and that dominion will 
finally lead the kingdoms of earth, in a degenerate age 
of faith, under the " vox populi, vox dei " idea de- 
rived from democracy, to support the infidel creed of 
a federation of the denominations. The future infidel 
people of the denominations will, by a majority vote, 
proclaim for a federal religious creed, for a mutilated 
Bible, for the " moon," for a union of all rehgious 
people under that creed; and it will be established 
under the federation of seven great nations, forming 
the first universal kingdom. Both these unions will be 
dissolved by the blood of God's people, who will, with 
the tenacity of life itself, hold up the word of God as 
the only religious guide lawful for men to follow. 
When the Bible is attempted to be mutilated and sup- 
planted by the doctrines of this " woman," then will 

134 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

begin to be laid at the root of the tree the prophetic ax, 
which will cause the fall and dissolution of Christen- 
dom. 

When this conflict shall come, the kingdoms of 
earth will go into a spiritual wilderness and leave ten 
generals, the " ten horns " of the beast, who will control 
the martial power of the world ; and thus, by the force 
of these conditions, they will be the only rulers, or 
kings, on the whole earth. They will, purely from the 
force of circumstances, become kings, or rulers; yet 
they will be without a kingdom, or form of govern- 
ment. They will rule by the power and strength of 
the armies they control. Looking upon these scenes 
in the wilderness of fallen kingdoms and laws, the 
angel thus described them: "And the ten horns that 
thou sawest are ten kings, who have received no king- 
dom as yet." (Rev. 17: 12.) They are kings with- 
out kingdoms, or forms of government. They are 
kings in a great sea of anarchy, where no laws or 
legal rulers exist, and they hold in their hand, under 
the providence of God, the destiny of all the earth. 
A general is a ruler, or king, in an interregnum, or 
spiritual wilderness. God here tells us that the word 
" king " means a ruler. " These have one mind, and 
they give their power and authority unto the beast." 
(Rev. 17: 13.) These ten men, holding the martial 
power and authority of the earth by the armies they 
control, are of one mind; they agree and give their 
authority to the same union of kingdoms, the beast. 
The seven nations will use the power of all the king- 
doms of earth for the purpose of mutilating the word 
of God and upholding the doctrine of an infidel reli- 

135 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



gious people, a " moon," with an international creed ; 
but these ten generals find themselves, at the fall of 
this union of nations, with all the power and authority 
of the earth, and they now agree and reorganize this 
union of nations, which embraces the same people, and 
they likewise have a great purpose in view. 

" The beast that thou sawest was, and is not ; and 
is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go into 
perdition." (Rev. 17: 8.) This beast was — ^he did 
exist — as an earthly kingdom, as we have seen him 
in the twelfth chapter of Revelation, with his seven 
crowns and ten captain generals. At that time he 
was ; but now, as the apostle looks upon him in the 
wilderness, he does not exist — he is without the or- 
ganism of a kingdom. " He is not " an organic king- 
dom or a beast, but he is about to return to earth, to 
come up out of the abyss of human interregnums as a 
beast, or kingdom, Avith the same union of nations and 
tongues that composed his body under the seven 
heads. Here he is, as reorganized by the ten horns, 
as he arises from the waters, the sea of human an- 
archy : "And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, 
having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns 
ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy." 
(Rev. 13: 1.) We have now seen the beast of the 
book of Revelation in three distinct stages, as he, will 
exist when he comes. In his latter stage, in the re- 
construction of this colossal union, we find it is ef- 
fected by the ten captain generals. They, in the be- 
ginning of this, its last reign, wear ten crowns, while 
the seven kings of the seven nations, who wore crowns 
during the preparation for and collision with the 

136 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

church, are decrowned and never again wear crowns. 
From that collision the seven kings go into the wilder- 
ness, and they make but feeble effort to reinstate them- 
selves. "And they are seven kings ; the five are fallen, 
the one is, the other is not yet come ; and when he 
cometh, he must continue a little while." (Rev. 17: 
10.) There can be no doubt that this is an effort 
of the seven fallen kings, who go down with the union 
of nations, to regain their thrones. They make this 
effort while the earth is a spiritual wilderness, and 
they have no military power to support them ; for the 
ten horns hold the armies of this great fallen union, 
and these seven kings are powerless to regain their 
thrones in the presence of these ten men who head and 
control the mihtary forces during the interregnum. 
Hence we find five are fallen before it could be said 
of them " they are," but " one is ; " one reaches his 
throne, but does not remain even a " little while," like 
the seventh, who remains on his throne a little while — 
that is, until the people who support him in this na- 
tion are conquered by the ten kings. "And I saw one 
of his heads as though it had been smitten unto death ; 
and his death stroke was healed: and the v/hole earth 
wondered after the beast." (Rev. 13 : 3.) Let us im- 
press the fact that this beast with the wounded head, 
or nation, is the same beast that was in the wilderness ; 
for, besides the bodily likeness, we find when this na- 
tion was healed of its national deadly wound the 
whole earth " wonders " after it. 

In the seventeenth chapter it is not stated why the 
people should wonder after the beast, but it is stated 
that they will. "And they that dwell on the earth 

137 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

shall wonder, . . . when they behold the beast, 
how that he was, and is not, and shall come." (Rev. 
17: 8.) This nation of people, when they are sub- 
dued by the power of the ten captain generals, are suf- 
fering with a deadly wound of the sword, " saying to 
them that dwell on the earth, that they should make 
an image to the beast who hath the stroke of the 
sword and lived." (Rev. 13: 14.) At the end of 
this revolution and the establishment of the kingdom 
of the ten kings we have one of the heads of the beast, 
one of the seven nations of this union of nations and 
tongues, suffering with a deadly wound by the sword. 
This statement describing the afflictions of one of the 
seven nations shows its tribulations to be beyond any- 
thing ever enacted in the history of the human fam- 
ily up to that time. This is one of the seven great 
nations of earth, which will unite its power with six 
other powerful- nations for the purpose of enforcing 
the reception of a federal creed by the people of earth 
in place of the Bible as a spiritual light. This is the 
beginning of the judgments of the great harlot. One 
of the seven great nations, which was one of the 
seven heads of the beast, is brought under the power 
of the ten horns with a deadly wound, which is so 
extensive that it is called a " national deadly wound." 
The whole nation has a wound unto death, and noth- 
ing but miraculous power can heal a deadly wound, 
for a deadly wound cannot be cured by natural means ; 
and this power of the kingdom to heal causes the peo- 
ple of earth to wonder when they see it. For a na- 
tion to receive a deadly wound is for the people who 
compose the nation to receive an incurable wound. 

138 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

And this was not a small nation, but one of the larg- 
est, one of the seven great head nations of the earth, 
that received this wound. Such a condition of a 
whole nation of people could never come from the 
sword in battle, but it could only come, and must 
come, from the murderous work of the execution 
of law. It is from the execution of a law with a 
sentence of death from a poisonous weapon, for no 
other sword could accomplish such an end. If a 
whole nation sought death in martyrdom, it would be 
impossible to accommodate each and all with a deadly 
wound by the sword, without often producing instant 
death, unless the wound was from a poisonous weapon. 
Yet this head, this nation, when it is subdued and 
brought under the dominion of the ten crowns of the 
ten men who were captain generals in the preceding 
union of nations, is afflicted with a deadly wound by 
the sword — a wound which God here tells us would 
bring death to all the nation. Here are some of God's 
trials and judgments inflicted on this federation of 
Christendom churches and which were never visited 
upon the people of the Roman Church. One of the 
great nations which, with six others, rule and dominate 
the nations and tongues of earth, under a federation 
of Christendom churches, is here, in its subjugation 
by the ten generals, with all its people, afflicted with 
a deadly wound, which must have been given as the 
only means that would bring them under the dominion 
of the ten captain generals, or their new constitution. 
These ten horns at this time are the martial rulers of 
all the earth. This whole nation, by being afflicted 
with a deadly wound from a sword, shows two things 

139 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

— first, that it was not a wound received in battle, for 
a nation never goes to battle, but sends its army, and 
this nation had no army, for the ten captain generals 
command the armies ; and this wound is certainly re- 
ceived in helpless obstinacy in preference to submission 
to a constitutional demand by proclamation from the 
ten kings. A nation could receive a wound from the 
sword in no other way, much less a deadly wound, 
than by a regular systematic execution of law or a 
military proclamation. It was given by a regular sys- 
tem of barbarism and from a house-to-house canvass. 
When the demand of the ten kings was resisted, a 
deadly wound was given; and the demand was so 
universally rejected by this nation that when it was 
subdued it was a head of the beast with a deadly 
wound — a whole nation of people with a wound that 
would surely bring death if not miraculously healed. 
This afflicted condition of a nation, while it shows 
the utter helplessness of the people and the unyield- 
ing determination of the ten kings to gain their de- 
mand by a most savage and cruel means, yet it shows 
that the submission to the demand of the ten kings 
was regarded by this nation of people as a calamity 
worse than death. We know a nation of people could 
never receive a wound in battle, for a nation never 
goes to battle ; and this whole nation did receive not 
only a wound, but a deadly wound, and it could never 
have been given except by a barbaric, systematic exe- 
cution of a decree as a punishment for resisting a law, 
or proclamation of the ten kings who hold the martial 
power of all the earth. The submission to the demand 
was regarded by this nation as worse than certain 

140 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

death, for the whole nation was in a dying condition 
when they surrendered. They had a national deadly 
wound. This is the beginning of a miraculous age, 
and this power to heal is conferred by Satan upon 
this kingdom ; and from the attractions of this power 
the people of earth, who are not versed with the con- 
tents of this Revelation, " wonder after " and follow 
this kingdom. 

These ten kings are at this time of one mind, and 
they remain of one mind until the union is formed ; 
and it is, therefore, certain that the same proclama- 
tion embraced all the people of earth, including this 
nation which so universally refuses to submit, and 
which, in consequence of their rejection of the decree, 
or proclamation, receives a deadly wound by a sword. 
Let us find what this demand was: "And the ten 
horns which thou sawest, and the beast, these shall 
hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and 
naked." (Rev. 17: 16.) The word "beast" here 
certainly embraces none but the ten kings and the 
officials of the kingdom, with the army. The word 
" kingdom " is often used in this sense. For instance, 
we speak of the officers of the United States as the 
government. The President and other officers of the 
United States are in a sense the kingdom, for they 
represent and personify its laws. And the word 
" beast " is here used in that sense. The ten kings and 
government officials hate the harlot. The body of the 
harlot was composed not only of the people of this one 
nation, but it embraced the people of earth, who com- 
posed the body of the "moon," with its federal religious 
creed of the preceding union of kingdoms. These ten 

141 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

kings, as well as the reorganized kingdom, or beast, 
or government officials under them, hate this religious 
people, hate this federation of the denominations ; 
and in their hatred they are of one mind, and agree 
to make the people of fallen Christendom not only 
desolate, but "naked." Then we learn here that the 
ten kings, by their new constitution, declare the wealth 
of the harlot people forfeited to the kingdom. They 
"make them naked," and to make people naked is to 
take from them all the earthly possessions they have. 
They strip them of their wealth and possessions. This 
is the only way to make a people naked. (See Job 
1: 21.) To leave the people of Christendom with 
their wealth and possessions would not be to make 
them naked ; but to take from them these things. Job 
shows us, would be to make them so. This alone 
w^ould fulfill this condition. Then from this expres- 
sion we are forced to the conclusion that the proclama- 
tion of the ten kings to the fallen nations and people 
and tongues of earth was for a surrender of their title 
to all their earthly possessions. It can mean nothing 
but a transfer of all individual wealth and possessions 
to the government under the ten kings. The people of 
one of the seven nations, looking upon the injustice 
and poverty-stricken condition this proclamation brings 
them, purpose in their own minds to receive death 
rather than to make the surrender ; and the ten kings, 
hating the religious fanaticism displayed in these reli- 
gious Avars by this people, are determined they shall 
forfeit their wealth to the general fund of the union of 
nations, even if it takes the universal destruction of 
this or other whole nations. So they proclaim a death 

142 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

wound by a pois.onous weapon and a lingering death 
to all who resist the demand and fail to give up their 
earthly wealth. And thus we find this nation in the 
new union under the ten kings, with its people suf- 
fering the pains and anguish of certain death from a 
wound by the sword. A vital wound by an unpoisoned 
sword will bring speedy death ; but this nation of peo- 
ple are all suffering from a deadly wound by a sword 
at one and the same time, and they are all healed 
before they die. 

This harlot woman, this federation of the denomina- 
tions, will be established by a majority voice of the 
people, certainly of the seven-head nations. There- 
fore, when the body of the harlot is spoken of, it 
means not only all the people of the seven nations, but 
all who are coerced and brought under their rule. The 
ten horns represented under the first union are the 
military powers of both the heads and body of the 
beast; and they, therefore, represent all the people 
of the reorganized kingdoms of earth; and this sec- 
ond union of the nations into one body is the result of 
their agreement. This makes it certain that the laws 
of the union were the same throughout the union, 
which extended over the earth ; and, therefore, this law 
which made the " harlot " naked made the people of all 
the earth naked and transferred the property of the 
people of earth to this kingdom under the ten kings. 
Such things are talked of now in a small way — that 
is, that the time will come when the kingdoms of earth 
will own most of the large interests of the world. 
This revelation of God surpasses the wildest dream 
of the most visionary politician of the present cen- 

143 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

tury. It shows that the time will come — at the fall of 
a denominational federation — when this universal 
kingdom will come on earth and own every rail- 
way, every manufacturing plant, every house, every city, 
every bank, every foot of land, and every dollar's worth 
of property of every character or kind on the whole 
earth. All the people who are annexed to the body 
of the " harlot " are a part of the " harlot ; " and when 
the " harlot " is made naked, all the people of earth are 
stripped of every item of wealth, every possession they 
have. This is only a part of God's judgment of the 
harlot, unbelieving people of a Christendom feder- 
ation of churches, and it foretells a revolution which 
will bring the people of earth to a state of wretched- 
ness and desolation which is appalling to contemplate. 
The whole human fam.ily, with few exceptions, for 
centuries have spent their allotted time on earth in 
securing wealth as the end of human happiness. The 
end and object of human life in Christendom has 
been to seek and acquire wealth. This delusion and 
vain imagination of the people of Christendom will 
be as suddenly removed from before them as the fall 
of one constitution and the erection of another. 

The human mind is unable to grasp the full mean- 
ing of the word " desolate " as here used, for it re- 
sults from the nakedness and loss of government con- 
trol of the people of a federation of the churches, 
from the sudden transfer of their wealth to the united 
kingdom of ten murderous kings ; and it, therefore, 
leaves the people of Christendom without hope or am- 
bition in the habitual course of life ; it takes away the 
great mainspring which now moves the business, the 

144 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

social, and a great part of the religious world; it 
will leave the people of earth in the hopeless midnight 
darkness of desolation, in poverty, and without an 
object or ambition. The phantom of wealth will thus 
suddenly disappear from before the eyes of men, and 
between this ever-seen, but never-reached, vision of 
glory and happiness will suddenly appear an impassa- 
ble darkness and chasm which will stop the chase and 
pursuit which has been unremitting through the ages. 
This is what God means when he says the ten kings 
will make the harlot " naked and desolate." For a 
people to be naked is for them to be without wealth 
or possessions. To be desolate is to be without the 
means to seek happiness, which is the extinction of 
hope to attaining a desired object or cherished purpose. 

These scenes are all in the future. When we once 
grasp the meaning of the words and symbols in which 
these scenes are couched, we know the Romish denom- 
ination was never symbolized by the harlot woman of 
the Apocalypse. 

This paternal kingdom comes upon the earth as a 
persecutor of God's people. It is the first in all the 
ages which cannot be said to be a minister of God 
for good to his church and the world. It is sent, we 
believe, after the culmination or corruption of the* 
principles of socialism, clothed in these robes of revo- 
lution, seeking peace in visions and dreams, yet pre- 
destinated by God to be a ruler of the world in wretch- 
edness and desolation for a short time, with an end 
as an executor of wrath and vengeance upon the whole 
earth. All men should know these facts. Can any 
good man look upon the harvest of these unrestrained 
principles and not shudder? 

10 145 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



CHAPTER XII. 



The First Three Seals of Rev. 6 Represent 
(1) the Man Child of the Church Going Forth to 
Conquer, (2) the Spiritual Wilderness, (3) the King- 
dom of the Ten Kings. The Judgment of the Harlot 
Continued. 

Let us take a brief review of three important events 
which we have examined, by the investigation of 
other symbols which embrace them, before we pro- 
ceed further with the judgment of the harlot. The 
three events we refer to are, first, the conquests of 
the kingdoms of earth by the man child of the church ; 
second, the spiritual wilderness; and, third, the rise 
of the kingdom of the ten kings. 

The brevity of the following symbols in which these 
events are couched make it very difficult, without a 
knowledge of the scenes we have been over, to com- 
prehend them. The first is the man child of the church 
going forth to battle with the kingdoms of earth, 
having a bow, and a crown is given him. 

"And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the 
seven seals, and I heard one, of the four living crea- 
tures saying as with a voice of thunder, Come. And 
I saw, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat 
thereon had a bow ; and there was given unto him a 

146 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

crown: and he came forth conquering, and to con- 
quer." (Rev. 6: 1,2.) 

The horse symbolizes in the Bible a militant equip- 
ment to carry and give strength to the soldier in battle. 
It is used time and again as an equipment, or motor 
power, that carries the warrior to conquest or defeat 
in battle. (See Job 29: 19-25 ; Prov. 21 : 31 ; Jer. 8: 
6.) This horse is a white horse, and white is the sym- 
bol of righteousness. (See Isa. 1: 13.) White is the 
robe to be worn by the saints in heaven. (Rev. 6 : 11.) 
This white horse symbolizes the power of righteous- 
ness, carrying a like symbolic warrior, the man child 
of the church, or the strength of the church, as he goes 
forth conquering and to conquer. This warrior is the 
strength, or strong people, of the church of God go- 
ing forth to battle, as foretold by the prophets, borne 
on their course by the strength of righteousness, and 
carrying a bow, the word of God, which is the sword 
of the Spirit, to be used by God's people. (Eph. 6: 
17.) 

The man child was to rule the nations with a rod 
of iron. He came forth with the word of God, the 
sword of the Spirit, a bow, or weapon. He will con- 
quer, as we have seen, by driving the kingdoms of 
earth into a wilderness. The man child was to rule. 
This rider on a white horse receives a crown, which 
denotes a ruler, or one who does rule. The man child 
of the church was to rule the nations ; and, as we 
have seen, when the conquest of the man child of the 
church was complete, we found the kingdoms of earth 
in a spiritual wilderness. They were in a state of an- 
archy, where men could kill each other without re- 

147 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

straint from law, where safety and peace had departed, 
and nothing but the bloody sword and strong hand 
could give protection. 

The events that follow in the wake of the conqueror 
on the white horse, as presented in the next seal, are 
described as follows: "And another horse came forth, 
a red horse : and to him that sat thereon it was given 
to take peace from the earth, and that they should 
slay one another : and there was given unto him a great 
sword." (Rev. 6: 4.) 

Red, or scarlet, is not a symbol of blood, as it is 
sometimes supposed to be, for no word has more than 
one symbol. Wine is a symbol of blood. (Gen. 49: 
11 ; see also Luke 22: 20.) Red, or scarlet, is a sym- 
bol of sin, as we have seen, and, when used by God 
in a figurative sense, always bears this meaning. 

The rider upon the red horse, coming from the sec- 
ond seal, is borne in his conquest upon the power of 
sin, or lawlessness, symbolized by a red horse. Now 
let us read again: "And another horse came forth, a 
red horse : and to him that sat thereon it was given to 
take peace from the earth, and that they should slay one 
another : and there was given unto him a great sword." 
In this scene, which follows the conquest of him that 
sat on a white horse, there is not an event noted that 
does not enter into the scene of a spiritual wilderness. 
or interregnum. No law, but " a great sword ; " no 
peace on earth, but the power to kill one another. 
These are the very scenes that followed the conquest 
of the man child. This is a spiritual wilderness — a 
state of anarchy — where the lives of men are without 
protection, and the strong, in robbing and murdering 

148 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

the weak and unprotected, are as free and unrestrained 
by law as the " chaff of the summer threshing floors." 

This scene stands between the conquest of the 
church and the rise of the kingdom of the ten kings, 
who make the people of Christendom " naked," who 
strip them of their wealth and possessions. When 
any kingdom shall strip the people of Christendom of 
their earthly possessions by a constitutional act and 
deliver it to the kingdom, the kingdom with all this 
wealth will need a balance, a standard of equity, up- 
held by laws (the hand is a symbol of law) by which 
it can distribute to each and all their just dues, ac- 
cording to the service rendered. 

Here we find the next kingdom following the state 
of anarchy thus equipped: "And I saw, and behold, 
a black horse ; and he that sat thereon had a balance 
in his hand. And I heard as it were a voice in the 
midst of the four living creatures saying, A measure 
of wheat for a shilling, and three measures of barley 
for a shilling ; and the oil and the wine hurt thou not." 
(Rev. 6:5, 6.) 

The beast, as shown in the thirteenth chapter, came 
out of the spiritual wilderness, with its ten captain 
generals wearing ten crowns and hating the harlot of 
Christendom ; and by the constitution of the new king- 
dom they make individual wealth illegal, and thus 
they make the people naked by transferring their 
wealth to the government, which, as shown here, 
holds the balances to weigh out the products of the 
earth — the wheat and barley, the oil and wine — to the 
people. Thus we see the first three seals of the Apoc- 
alypse have never yet been opened, and the first seal will 

149 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

not be opened until the church collides with the king- 
doms of earth. The first will not be opened until the man 
child, the strength of God's people, goes forth in de- 
fense of his Bible, conquering and to conquer. This 
is the event contained in the first seal. 

At the end of this conquest of the church we find 
the world under the dominion of the red, or sinful, 
spirit of anarchy ; without law, but with a great sword ; 
without peace, but with the unrestrained power to 
kill each other. These are the events of the second 
seal. It gives the caption to the history of an inter- 
regnum. 

Out of the wilderness, or interregnum, will arise 
a kingdom holding the wealth of Christendom under 
the dominion of ten men ; and the government will 
weigh to the people, by a standard of equity held in 
the grip of the law, the products of the earth pro- 
duced by their own labor. 

The events of the first three seals are part of God's 
judgment of the people who shall attempt to mutilate 
the word of God and who will successfully inaugu- 
rate a federation of the denominations of Christendom 
and transmute them into names of blasphemy. 

At the rise of the kingdom of the ten kings, which 
will last forty-two months, or three years and six 
months, the federated-denominational-infidel-religious 
people of Christendom will find themselves without 
government control. Their civil dominion will be 
rooted up utterly by the power of this kingdom, for the 
ten kings with every government official ("the ten 
horns" and "the beast" will "hate the harlot"); 

150 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 



and at the rise of their kingdom the brief earthly do- 
minion and civil rule of the harlot will forever cease. 

"And the ten horns which thou sawest, and the 
beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her 
desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall 
burn her utterly with fire. For God did put in their 
hearts to do his mind, and to come to one mind, and to 
give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of 
God should be accomplished." (Rev. 17: 16, 17.) 

The ten kings, in the formation of their union, will 
be of one mind and hate the people who form the 
Christendom federation of churches, and they will 
make her desolate and naked. Besides this, they will 
burn, or utterly burn at the stake, the last of those 
who fail to renounce her civil and religious constitu- 
tion and accept this paternal government. This utter 
burning means the literal and complete destruction by 
fire of the last of the people who compose her con- 
stitutional body by holding to her federal creed. 

"And shall eat her flesh." This is not from hatred, 
but they are driven to it by the pangs of hunger. 
Christ tells us that these wars will transpire amid 
famines (Matt. 24), and John here shows the fulfill- 
ment of the words of Christ. He shows the armies 
of the ten kings eating the flesh of at least some of 
those who cling to the love of Christendom institu- 
tions. If the government and the kings of earth hate 
the harlot, then it is certain that no one clinging to the 
Christendom religion and its institutions will hold an 
oflice or place of trust in this government, and its 
dominion will extend from one end of the earth to the 
other. 

151 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

"After these things I saw another angel coming 
down out of heaven, having great authority; and the 
earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried 
with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon 
the great, and is become a habitation of demons, and 
a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every 
unclean and hateful bird." (Rev. 18: 1, 2.) 

Here is the announcement of the fulfillment of Rev. 
12, embracing the fall of Satan. The fall of Satan 
occurs at the fall of the Christendom religious feder- 
ation, with her kingdoms, which is the fall of Babylon, 
that great city, composed of many secular and reli- 
gious houses, which is yet to be built. It is at the 
judgment of the harlot. Just what this angel, or 
messenger, will be and in what character he will 
appear to the people of God, I am unable to say; 
but it is certainly at the beginning of a miracu- 
lous age. It appears on earth amid the scenes of the 
spiritual wilderness and when the church of God is the 
only organization on earth with an unbroken consti- 
tution. 

This angel, or messenger, will be on earth with 
this warning, telling God's people that all the earth, 
the great city of Babylon, is not only fallen, but has 
become the home of the demons of Satan, and it will 
be, as the connection shows, just after the conquest of 
the man child of the church over every kingdom of the 
earth. The power to light the earth with his glory 
amid a sea of human confusion, which covers the 
whole earth, makes this messenger appear as a super- 
natural messenger, possibly as a multitude of heavenly 
angels. This further appears from the fact that his 

152 



1 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

visit is of the briefest, for his work is done and an- 
other angel appears between the fall of the union of 
the kingdoms of Christendom and the rise of the king- 
dom of the ten kings. They both appear in succession 
and in the sea or wilderness of broken human domin- 
ion. One announces the fall of the demons and an- 
gels, or birds, of Satan; and the other is telling the 
people of God of the utter destruction of the Christen- 
dom religious federation which is about to follow, 
and warning them to come out of the territory in 
which she is to be judged. 

" For by the wine of the wrath of her fornication 
all the nations are fallen." (Rev. 18: 3.) 

Wine is a symbol of blood. Christ took the cup of 
wine and blessed it at his supper and called it his 
"blood." (See also Gen. 49: 11.) By the blood 
of her wrath shed while in union, or unlawful wedlock, 
with the kingdoms of earth, all the nations of earth are 
fallen. They are at the time this angel appears 
" fallen," are existing in a spiritual wilderness which 
is as broad and extensive as the field occupied by the 
nations of all the earth. 

While in this wilderness another voice from heaven 
says: "Come forth, my people, out of her." (Rev. 
18: 4.) This expression does not mean for God's 
people to change their minds and cease to live in com- 
munion and fellowship with the infidel religious peo- 
ple of this federation or city of denominations, for 
they will not be doing so; but it calls for a bodily 
action. It means for them to move their fleshly bod- 
ies to another place of residence — to come forth from 
among them — and it is that their fleshly bodies may 
not receive the punishment that will be inflicted upon 

153 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

the great body of the people of Babylon whose plagues 
begin in the wilderness and continue through the reign 
of the ten horns. These horns will not only strip the 
harlot of her wealth and government rule, but will 
eat their flesh and burn them with fire. Therefore 
*' come forth, my people, out of her " — leave her ter- 
ritory. 

At the rise of the ten kings and the fall of Satan 
the dragon will persecute the woman and she will flee 
to the wilderness — a material place, or wilderness, on 
earth that will be prepared by God for the preserva- 
tion of his church. (See Rev. 12: 13, 14; Isa. 35.) 

When God's people come out of Babylon in answer 
to this call, it will be the beginning of a universal and 
prophetic flight of his people from every land of Chris- 
tendom. This flight is prophetic; and, therefore, it 
will be one of the greatest events in the annals of 
the human family. It will be to a place, a wilderness, 
which will have been unoccupied by any nation of 
earth for centuries — a place where the power and do- 
minion of the harlot spirit of Christendom will never 
go. This is the place to which God's people will be 
invited by this voice from heaven, while the nations 
are in a fallen state, or spiritual wilderness, and to 
which they will flee through the persecutions of the 
kingdom of the ten kings, and thereby escape from the 
plagues that will follow. 

The comprehension of these scriptures will be an 
appeal made by the words of God's prophets, and they 
will certainly be understood by all of God's people 
before these events transpire. (See Rev. 1:1.) In 
this call of the angel there is not a figurative word 

154 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

to be found. It means exactly what it says. It is 
certain this voice is heard at the very beginning of a 
miraculous age, and every expression and condition 
confirms the notion of a miraculous messenger, a lit- 
eral voice of one angel or a multitude from heaven, 
who will be seen and heard by men on earth. 

" Come forth, my people, out of her, that ye have 
no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not 
of her plagues : for her sins have reached even unto 
heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." 
(Rev. 18:4,5.) 

The sins referred to here are, no doubt, the shed- 
ding of the blood of martyrs and saints by this feder- 
ation of Christendom churches through the seven- 
headed beast, and her plagues will begin at the rise 
of the kingdom of the ten kings, who will make them 
desolate and naked — will take their wealth and strip 
them of political power ; and, to accomplish this, they 
will wound a whole nation with an incurable, or 
deadly, wound, and burn the last with fire who resist 
their government. 

The following is a decree of God against great 
Babylon as a federation of spiritual houses. He says : 
" Render unto her even as she rendered, and double 
unto her the double according to her works : in the 
cup which she mingled, mingle unto her double." 
(Rev. 18:6.) 

There can be no doubt that this contrast refers to the 
manner in which she will deal with God's people, un- 
der her organization of the kingdoms of earth, when 
she is drunk with the blood of saints and martyrs of 
Jesus. 

155 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

" How much soever she glorified herself, and waxed 
wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning: 
for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no 
widow, and shall in no wise see mourning. Therefore 
in one day shall her plagues come, death, and mourn- 
ing, and famine ; and she shall be utterly burned with 
fire; for strong is the Lord God who judged her." 
(Rev. 18:7,8.) 

Amid the scenes of the wilderness, when anarchy 
reigns on the earth and envelops it like the waters 
cover the sea, the people who will rule a federation 
of the kingdoms of earth for the purpose of support- 
ing a union of all religious denominations in one great 
body, under one federal constitution, or creed, and 
who are successful in doing so, will boast amid these 
scenes that she is " no widow." She makes the boast 
with the full expectation that she will regain her fallen 
power by the reorganization of her kingdoms, but for 
her great sins God decrees that she shall be utterly 
destroyed. Therefore in one day shall her plagues 
come, or begin — that is, in the day and hour that the 
agreement of the ten kings comes into effect will her 
plagues come. They will begin and continue amid 
scenes of death, murder, hunger, and mourning in 
this spiritual wilderness; and she will be destroyed 
when the last of her subjects are burned with fire, 
which will, no doubt, be at the stake. 

The want of knowledge, or unbelief in these proph- 
ecies, will not change a decree of God; for while this 
religious people are spending their time in this vain 
boast, like we sometimes find a political party of the 
present day saying, " We will again rise and rule," 

156 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

God causes the ten kings to agree — to " come to one 
mind " — and by their united martial power they bring 
to the harlot death and mourning amid the terrors of 
hunger and famine. 

While six of the kings of this harlot queen have 
fallen in the effort to regain their thrones, and while 
the ten kings have agreed, this religious federation 
still boasts she will see no widowhood, because she 
still has her seventh king on his throne and many fol- 
lowers throughout the world; but the death, mourn- 
ing, and famine will be the doom of every religious 
federal Christendom man who fails to surrender his 
governmental ideas, as well as his wealth, to these ten 
kings after they unite their power. He who holds to 
his political opinions and his life will in his flight be 
pursued by mourning and famine. These terms will 
be the terms to the federation of Christendom churches 
as they relate to their government opinions and the 
wealth of all these kingdoms. These conditions enter 
into a final judgment of Christendom as a city of na- 
tions and as a denominational federation. It is the 
result of the combined work of the ten kings at the 
time she falls from the last of her earthly dominions. 
The ten kings were to make her desolate and naked 
and to eat her flesh and " burn her utterly with fire." 
(Rev. 17: 16.) And it is here accomplished. 

"And the kings of the earth, who committed forni- 
cation and lived wantonly with her, shall weep and 
wail over her, when they look upon the smoke of her 
burning." (Rev. 18: 9.) 

The remnant of this city, throughout the earth, will 
on a fixed day be utterly destroyed ; for this lamenta- 

157 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

tion is not confined to the territory of the last of the 
seven kingdoms, or provinces, but it is throughout 
the earth. These kings look upon the work of burn- 
ing, which includes all the people of earth who per- 
sist in supporting and upholding by word or deed 
this spirit of rehgious rule, as a queen, or ruler, over 
the earth. It includes all who retain a lingering hope 
of a return of the earthly rule of this religious spirit- 
ual city, with its houses united by one creed, or con- 
stitution, like the body of a woman. 

They are the seven kings of Christendom, who will 
be cast down from their thrones in an attempt to sup- 
plant the Bible by upholding an infidel rehgious peo- 
ple — the moon — with an international creed, and 
whose dominion will be broken by the stone from the 
mountain. They weep and mourn as they stand afar 
off in their helplessness to support this religious 
queen, while they see the last vestige of her constitu- 
tional city burned in the body of the last of those who 
uphold it. ^' Standing afar off for the fear of her tor- 
ment, saying, W'oe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the 
strong city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. 
And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over 
her, for no man buyeth their merchandise any more." 
(Rev. 18: 10, 11.) 

The citydom, or constitutional existence, of the 
harlot under her federation will be destroyed by a 
concert of action by the ten kings by their agreement, 
and it will be completed in every land in Christendom 
in one and the same day. This implies that the day 
to finish the destruction will be set by proclamation. 
'' No man buyeth their merchandise any more," from 

158 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

the fact that on the day of the proclamation from the 
ten kings the constitutional right of individual owner- 
ship will cease on earth, and the beast will return 
from the bottomless pit, the sea, a spiritual wilder- 
ness, supporting a paternal government strengthened 
by a miraculous religion from Satan. 

The catalogue of merchandise in the following ex- 
cerpt has never existed in any land before the Chris- 
tian era, and it has grown very much since the fall 
of Catholicism. It has been found nowhere on earth 
except in the lands of Christendom. Here in these 
lands, where the gospel is found and valued, men can 
and do trade on the souls of men. 

" Merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious 
stone, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, 
and scarlet; and all thyine wood, and every vessel of 
ivory, and every vessel made of most precious wood, 
and of brass, and iron, and marble ; and cinnamon, 
and spice, and incense, and ointment, and frankincense, 
and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cat- 
tle, and sheep ; and merchandise of horses and chariots 
and slaves ; and souls of men. And the fruits which 
thy soul lusted after are gone from thee, and all 
things that were dainty and sumptuous are perished 
from thee, and men shall find them no more at all." 
(Rev. 18:12-14.) 

In this catalogue of merchandise is found the 
wealth and riches of Christendom, and in no other 
lands in any past age has this list been found; and 
we are here told it is *' departed from thee, and men 
shall find them no more at all." We are here told 
that the people of Christendom are " desolate and 

159 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

naked," and her wealth hath departed from her. We 
are here further told that none will ever enjoy the 
luxuries embraced in this catalogue after the fall of 
the great city. We are told that the wealth and lux- 
uries enjoyed by the people of earth of the present 
day will pass away at the fall of the federation 
of the churches of Christendom and the first uni- 
versal kingdom, which will be shortly before the 
coming of Christ. Christendom, especially tinder 
Protestant rule, has been the mother of inven- 
tions, with their wealth and luxuries. After her fall 
and dissolution, all things which were dainty and 
sumptuous will cease to be, for " men shall find them 
no more at all." Do not think, my dear reader, that 
we are writing fiction; for we are only telling the 
prophetic history of the fall and dissolution of Chris- 
tendom, with her institutions, just as given here by 
God. We are only reading these scriptures. Poverty 
and desolation of the earth will continue from the fall 
of a future federation of the degenerate religious de- 
nominations to the coming of Christ. This condition 
never followed the fall of Roman Catholicism. She was 
not this great city. When the world arises from its 
fall into a state of anarchy, into which it will go from 
the collision with the kingdom of God, all the wealth 
as enumerated above will have passed from the hands 
of the people of Christendom, and the traffic of indi- 
vidual merchants will cease. No one will buy from 
them any more, from the fact that they will have 
nothing to sell. They will be " naked," stripped of 
their wealth by the new constitution and the powers 
which back it. This language is unmistakably clear, 

160 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

and points to the most perfect, complete, and sudden 
revolution that human language can describe. The 
misery and desolation from this revolution will fall 
on all, but it will affect the most those who are least 
prepared for it. It will fall upon those who have 
been accustomed to the luxuries of wealth in a fearful 
and appalling way. They will be stripped by constitu- 
tion of all their earthly possessions, reduced to pov- 
erty and desolation, and it will be held by the iron 
grasp of these ten murderous kings who take it. 

" The merchants of these things, who were made 
rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her 
torment, weeping and mourning; saying, Woe, woe, 
the great city, she that was arrayed in fine linen and 
purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious 
stone and pearl ! for in one hour so great riches is 
made desolate." (Rev. 18: 15-17.) 

The merchants through fear stand afar off from 
this scene of extermination and weep, while they see 
the smoke from the burning bodies of those who resist 
the constitution of the ten kings. They realize that 
with the cessation of this smoke will expire the last 
hope for a return of a constitution which gives to 
them the right of possession. This is a declaration 
which will be made by the once great and wealthy 
merchants of Christendom — that all her riches have 
come to naught. The possession of life by the fed- 
erated religious people of earth and their preservation 
from this burning is conditioned on the surrender of 
their civil institutions, as well as a surrender of all 
the wealth of every character that they possess, to 
their conquerors, and we find it here complete. All 
11 161 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

their wealth and possessions are here declared to have 
come to naught. They are no longer possessions of 
these people of Christendom ; they are naught to them. 

"And every shipmaster, and every one that saileth 
any whither, and mariners, and as many as gain their 
living by sea, stood afar off, and cried out as they 
looked upon the smoke of her burning, saying, What 
city is like the great city ? And they cast dust on their 
heads, and cried, weeping and m.ourning, saying. Woe, 
woe, the great city, wherein all that had their ships 
in the sea were made rich by reason of her costHness ! 
for in one hour is she made desolate." (Rev. 18: 
17-19.) 

This work of burning the spiritual temple of this 
Christendom federation will not be done in a corner, 
but it will most certainly follow a proclamation of a 
new constitution and concert of action by the ten 
horns who will rule the whole earth. The merchants 
of the earth, all the earth, and all who will have ships 
in the sea, will see and reahze that the smoke of this 
spiritual city is ascending at the very time this mur- 
derous work is being accomplished. The metes and 
bounds of this city, like the " moon," are thus shown 
to be commensurate with the earth. The smoke from 
a spiritual city comes from the burning of its mate- 
rial body, the temple, in which the spirit dwells. The 
body of this spiritual city was the material bodies of 
those who composed its federation and supported its 
one creed. It is a work of extermination by burning 
all those in whom the spirit was manifest in opposi- 
tion to the ten kings, and from their burning bodies 
did this smoke ascend. 

162 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

This is a literal history of a literal work to be per- 
formed on the bodies of many people who preferred 
death to separation from their wealth, or to a sub- 
mission to the constitution of the paternal kingdom of 
the ten kings. 

God tells us what these ten horns are that make this 
smoke. He tells us that they are kings — men, with 
the passions of men. He tells us what this city is; 
he tells us it is " Mystery, Babylon " — spiritual con- 
fusion, denominational federation — and these are as 
real as the material body of a king or a multitude of 
people. 

" Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye saints, and 
ye apostles, and ye prophets ; for God hath judged 
your judgment on her." (Rev. 18: 20.) 

The word " judgment " here means " trials." As 
the apostles, prophets, and many saints suffered cruel 
and violent deaths in the apostolic age from the " man 
of sin," or " strength of sin," the same spirit mani- 
fested at the time of these events in a harlot reli- 
gious people, drunk on the blood of saints and mar- 
tyrs of Jesus, at the fall of Christendom, so in like 
manner God here visits the harlot, the embodiment 
of the " strength " or " man of sin," with the judg- 
ment, or trials, she visited on his people. 

The day in which the culmination of a federated de- 
nominational rule on earth shall cease in the fall of her 
city called " Mystery, Babylon," will be in some future 
day, when heaven and glorified saints shall rejoice 
and when the whole earth will mourn. It will be the 
day in which God will break the golden cup, the 
gilded constitution of a powerful and corrupted feder- 

163 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

ation of churches, and utterly destroy every ray of life 
and light from this moon. It will be a day in which 
the hope of the people of earth to continue to enjoy 
the luxury and wealth of individual possessions will 
be swept away and the dominion and citydom rule of 
a federation of churches will forever cease on earth. 

"And a strong angel took up a stone as it were a 
great millstone and cast it Into the sea, saying. Thus 
with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be 
cast down, and shall be found no more at all." (Rev. 
18:21.) 

The reign of Babylon over the nations of earth 
when she becomes a sovereign spiritual city will be 
brief ; and when her fall comes, it will be sudden and 
complete. Her citydom will be blotted from the earth 
in one day. When these unions fall, her citydom will 
forever cease on earth ; and, therefore, " the voice of 
harpers and minstrels and flute players and trumpet- 
ers shall be heard no more at all in thee ; and no 
craftsman, of whatsoever craft, shall be found any 
more at all in thee ; and the voice of a mill shall be 
heard no more at all in thee ; and the light of a lamp 
shall shine no more at all in thee ; and the voice of 
the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no 
more at all in thee." (Rev. 18: 22, 23.) All these 
things continue in the Roman denomination to this day. 

All these things are now found in the countries and 
nations that will compose the body of the harlot, and 
they will continue and exist in " Mystery, Babylon," 
during her short reign ; but at her fall the voice of the 
bridegroom and the bride will be heard under her 
great dominion no more at all. She will never rise 
from that fall ; she will never exist again. 

164 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

"And as it came to pass in the days of Noah, even 
so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 
They ate, they drank, they married, they were given 
in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the 
ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all." 
(Luke 17: 26, 27.) 

People will be eating, drinking, and marrying when 
Qirist shall return to earth ; but it will not be in Baby- 
lon the great, for she will yet arise, fall, and, with 
every house encompassed within her walls, will utterly 
pass from the earth before that time, for " the voice of 
the bridegroom and the bride shall be heard no more 
at all in thee." Babylon will yet be formed, run her 
course on earth, and completely pass away before the 
coming of Christ. 

" For thy merchants were the princes of the earth." 
This is true now. The great merchants, the stock 
jobbers, the high financiers of the earth are like 
princes — ^honored next to the ruling kings of the 
earth. 

" For with thy sorcery were all of the nations de- 
ceived." (Rev. 18:23.) 

Who is it that is not deceived by the intangible 
doctrine of mysticism as it is now taught and has been 
taught for ages? Men throughout Christendom are 
teaching a doctrine of sorcery when they substitute 
the vain dreams of the imagination of the heart for 
the word of God. 

"And in her was found the blood of prophets and 
saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth." 
(Rev. 18:24.) 

The word " all " must be received in a restricted 
sense, as it is certain Babylon has not yet existed, and 

165 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

many people have been slain prior to this time and 
since Cain slew Abel. The word " all " must refer 
to all classes — saints and infidels, the Jew and the 
Greek — like the expression " all flesh," meaning all 
nations and tongues. The blood of all nations and 
tongues and classes was found in her that will live 
during her wars and brief reign, for her reign will be 
universal. 

" In her was found the blood of prophets." We 
are unable to harmonize this statement with the facts. 
The word " prophet " means an inspired teacher, and 
we are unable to find any inspired Christian between 
the death of the apostle John and the future fall of 
this federation of denominations. 

The two prophets (Rev. 11) will be slain during 
the reign of the kingdoms of the ten kings in the 
great city of nations, " wherein our Lord was cruci- 
fied," and that will be the reorganized city of democ- 
racy. We are inclined to believe the word " prophet " 
found its place here by an error of transcription. It 
is not in harmony with any statement in the whole 
Bible that we can find. There may be some explana- 
tion in some other part of the Apocalypse, some 
scene showing that supernaturally endowed men will 
live before this event is fulfilled. We believe it is the 
wrong word. In Matt. 23 : 35 there is a general state- 
ment which may possibly cover this statement in 
principle, and in the same sense that Christ held the 
Jews of his day responsible for all the righteous blood 
shed from Abel down to their time, this federation of 
the denominations may be likewise held responsible 
for all the righteous blood shed upon the earth. 

166 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 



CHAPTER XIII. 



The Second Universal Kingdom. The Kingdom 
of the Ten Kings Is the First Universal Reign of 
Democracy. It Is After the Fall of a Federation 
of Christendom Churches. 

"And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, hav- 
ing ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten 
diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy." 
(Rev. 13: 1.) " Coming up out of the sea '* — coming 
up out of a spiritual wilderness composed of many 
" waters," many " peoples and nations." 

That this is the kingdom organized from the fallen 
union of nations under seven crowns, as shown in the 
twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse, and that this or- 
ganization is affected by the ten kings by their agree- 
ment, there can be no doubt. It went into the wilder- 
ness with its seven heads wearing crowns; it was to 
come out of the wilderness by the power and union 
of the ten horns ; and we find it rising out of the sea, 
the symbol of a spiritual wilderness, or a state of 
anarchy, with the ten horns on the same body, and, 
for the first time in these visions, wearing crowns. 
They went into the wilderness without crowns ; they 
come out of the sea with crowns upon their heads. 
" For God did put in their hearts to do his mind, and 
to come to one mind, and to give their kingdom unto 

167 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

the beast, until the words of God should be accom- 
plished." (Rev. 17: 17.) These ten men will head 
the armies of Christendom under the first universal 
kingdom, or organization of the nations of earth un- 
der a federation of churches. When the seven kings 
are fallen, it leaves the ten men rulers of the whole 
earth. They have great power and authority, and by 
that power they acquire for themselves a constitutional 
dominion over all these nations, and God put it into 
their hearts to come to one mind and to deliver their 
kingdom to the beast. They delivered the subdued 
people of earth, with their wealth, to a government 
which they themselves control for the brief period of 
one hour. 

We find the different scenes in which this beast fig- 
ured as follows: 

1. In. the twelfth chapter he is presented in the 
presence of and in collision with the church. 

2. It has been foretold by God's prophets that the 
kingdoms of earth would go into a spiritual wilder- 
ness from that collision. (See Dan. 2: 34, 35.) Then, 
this being our guide, we go to the seventeenth chap- 
ter, and there find him in the wilderness without a 
crown. The angel says : " The beast that thou sawest 
was, and is not [he did exist, but is not an organic 
kingdom while in the wilderness] ; and is about to 
come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition. 
And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, . . . 
when they behold the beast, how that he was, and is 
not, and shall come." (Rev. 17: 8.) This beast was 
to come up out of the abyss with the ten kings in 
union. 

168 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

3. We find it here fulfilling this destiny, with the 
ten horns exercising the power of kings. We find it 
rising out of the sea, many waters — an interregnum. 

Democracy leads to the same liberty and financial 
equality of all men who compose the kingdom ; and 
when the ten kings cease to exercise power as kings, 
the people of earth have complete control, though it 
is very certain the soldiers, like ancient Rome, do the 
voting and choose the officials. The government is 
established, while the people of earth are in a spiritual 
wilderness ; and none are, therefore, eligible to vote 
except the army, which is under martial law. 

Here is a complete return to the ancient form of 
the fourth kingdom as it was introduced by the Ro- 
mans before the beginning of the Christian era. The 
army chose the Roman emperors when the fourth 
form of government was new on earth, and here in the 
kingdom of the ten kings the army sends the repre- 
sentatives to the capital city of this city of nations and 
they control the kingdom. After this the connection 
of the ten kings is left in obscurity by John, as well 
as Daniel, and "they of the people" (Rev. 11: 9) 
hold the authority of the kingdom and represent the 
laws. Therefore the apostle calls the kingdom organ- 
ized by the ten kings the place wherein our " Lord was 
crucified" (Rev. 11: 8), which was the fourth king- 
dom, which was spiritually the place wherein Christ 
was crucified under the Romans. 

The previous union and first universal kingdom 
under seven kings and a religious people is called 
" Babylon the Great ; " the second, established by the 
ten horns and the army, is democracy, which is here 

169 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

indirectly called " Rome." ( See Rev. 11:8.) While it 
embraces the same people, yet it personifies the fourth 
kingdom in its perfect form. 

We find in Rev. 13:1 the identical beast, with the 
ten horns wearing crowns, rising out of the sea or 
interregnum. The people were to wonder " when he 
shall come." "And I saw one of his heads as though 
it had been smitten unto death ; and his death stroke 
was healed: and the whole earth wondered after the 
beast." (Rev. 13: 3.) 

The beast " was " — he did exist — as seen in the 
twelfth chapter; but in the wilderness, as shown in 
the seventeenth chapter, he " is not," but is to come 
up out of the abyss, and the people are to wonder 
after him. Here, in the thirteenth chapter, we find 
him rising out of the abyss of human anarchy, called 
" the sea," with all the people of earth wondering 
after him. We thus identify the beast in the wilder- 
ness as the beast of the twelfth, thirteenth, and seven- 
teenth chapters. 

The next place we see this beast is in the eleventh 
chapter at a later date, under the dominion of the 
people, who are chosen by an election by the army, 
for an army must and does always represent the people 
while a nation is in a state of anarchy or without a 
constitution. They choose and elect for the people, 
and the ten men exist as horns, or swords, at that time. 

Here is the same beast after the brief reign of the 
ten horns as kings — " one hour with the beast." 

"And when they [the two prophets of God] shall 
have finished their testimony, the beast that cometh ud 

170 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

out of the abyss shall make war with them, and over- 
come them." (Rev. 11 : 7.) 

This statement makes it perfectly certain that this 
beast coming up out of the sea is the same beast that 
was reorganized, or brought up out of the abyss, or 
sea of human interregnum, by the union of the ten 
horns, and he here makes war with the very last of 
God's people that will ever exist in Christendom. This 
may appear to be a doubtful statement to those who 
have not learned that the flight of the woman is from 
every land of Christendom. Every Christian living 
will be in Judea at the coming of Christ, as these 
prophecies clearly show. These facts are worth our 
attention. This war with the saints is after these ten 
men cease to exercise power as kings with this beast, 
for at this time the beast which it was said in the 
seventeenth chapter would come out of the abyss by 
the union of the ten kings is under the dominion of the 
people, and they are represented by their electors — 
chosen, no doubt, by the army for the people. 

**And they of the people and kindreds and tongues 
and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and 
a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put 
in graves." (Rev. 11 : 9.) 

We quote here from the Authorized Version be- 
cause, while it expresses the same ideas that the Amer- 
ican Revised Version does, it is planer and brings out 
the meaning more fully. Here we find the kingdom 
of the ten kings under the control of " they of the peo- 
ple," the representatives of the people, who hold the 
authority of the beast ; for when the beast kills these 
two prophets of God, " they of the people " would not 

171 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

suffer their dead bodies to be buried. This shows 
that " they of the people " hold the authority of the 
beast. 

"And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, 
and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth 
as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his 
power, and his throne, and great authority." (Rev. 
13:2.) 

The righteousness and constitutional equity of this 
kingdom is represented by the shaded white color, the 
groundwork of the coat of the leopard. " White " is 
a symbol of righteousness. The whitish groundwork 
of the coat of the leopard as a symbol shows a modi- 
fied righteous and just constitutional guarantee of the 
affairs of this kingdom, though it is covered with con- 
stitutional dark spots. The color marks of a leopard, 
like those of a few other animals, are peculiar to that 
beast and show a constitutional characteristic which 
distinguishes it from any other beast. Daniel says 
the fourth beast, with the ten horns, was different 
from all other beasts. So is the leopard. For this 
kingdom to be like the leopard, it must have its own 
special characteristics. " White is a symbol of right- 
eousness, and the symbol is in harmony with the char- 
acter of the symbol represented by this kingdom — 
of him that sat on " a black horse " with a weighing 
"balance in his hand." (Rev. 6: 5.) To use a bal- 
ance to weigh correctly is to practice equity, or right- 
eousness ; and he is here in harmony with the whitish 
constitutional groundwork of the covering of the 
leopard. 

Darkness is a state impenetrable to the human 
172 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

senses, and dark, or black, can represent nothing in 
the spiritual world that can be understood by the hu- 
man senses, for the senses cannot penetrate either spir- 
itual or natural darkness. Therefore the dark spots 
of the leopard represent the supernatural character 
and power of this kingdom received from Satan, for 
its power and authority are received from him. Satan 
is the prince of darkness. (Luke 22 : 53 ; Eph. 5 : 11.) 
We learn here that dark, as a symbol, represents su- 
pernatural, spiritual power received from Satan. 
"And the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, 
and great authority." The constitution of this king- 
dom, with its authority, comes from the supernatural 
inspiration of Satan, and its constitution is symbolized 
by bright yellow and black — a modified righteous con- 
stitution and just administration, on one hand, and, 
on the other, impenetrable, unfathomable, supernat- 
ural constitutional powers, which cause the people of 
earth to " wonder after the kingdom," to follow it in 
wonder and amazement. 

Satan establishes this kingdom on a foundation that 
nothing but miraculous power could destroy. Its 
foundation is like the feet of a bear supporting the 
body of a leopard. Just what characteristic of the 
foundation of this kingdom is symbolized by the feet 
of a bear, I am unable to say. The feet of a bear are 
broader and stronger than the feet of a leopard, and 
they would appear as extraordinary support to a 
leopard. It speaks with " the mouth of a lion." The 
sound from the mouth of an unrestrained lion pro- 
duces fear and awe. The mouth of an animal is in 
its head, and the mouth of this kingdom is, therefore, 

173 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

like all other kingdoms, in the chief administrators, 
the highest body, or head of the kingdom. When the 
nation suffering with a deadly wound is healed, the 
people of earth follow after this kingdom in wonder 
and astonishment; when it speaks, they see its words 
supported and fulfilled by miraculous powers. (See 
2 Thess. 2: 8, 9.) These marks of this constitution 
show a most extraordinary government. All its peo- 
ple are placed on the same plane of liberty and 
financial level, with the army first, which is the real 
logical result from the principles of democracy. All 
who accept the constitution enjoy the equity of its prin- 
ciples put forth in real and emphatic practice. All 
have the same rights and enjoy the wealth of the land 
equally and possibly according to service rendered. 
Religious liberty is tolerated, and men are allowed to 
worship under the *' names of blasphemy ; " but it is 
doubtful whether or not it tolerates the Bible, for the 
" woman " fled to the wilderness at the rise of this 
kingdom. When this kingdom is organized, we find its 
seven heads without crowns, but still with their 
" names of blasphemy," showing a continuation of the 
denominations, at least in seven nations of earth. 
This is after the Christendom federation of churches 
passes away. 

Their names will have completely passed from earth 
at the end of this kingdom, but God will still have an 
uncovenanted people among the nations who are not of 
"the seed of the woman," or church. (See Rev. 6: 
7; 20: 5; Acts 18: 10.) 

During the existence of the forty-two months, 
which is the existence of this kingdom, wars will 

174 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

cease and it will be a period of international peace. 
This fact is something remarkable after the bloody 
religious wars which preceded it under a federation of 
Christendom churches. It will not be looked for by 
those who fail to read these prophecies, but they will 
wonder and follow after Satan personified by this 
kingdom. Its great spiritual powers received from 
Satan give it great authority among men, and they 
will in blindness follow it for three years and six 
months, and thus be prepared at the end of this short 
time to worship a great material image, a likeness of 
this kingdom, which abomination will be set up by the 
next kingdom, as we will see. The color of the black 
horse, which carries the horseman with the balances, 
and the black spots of the leopard represent the su- 
pernatural, spiritual powers bestowed on this kingdom 
by Satan. In the one case the dark horse shows the 
character of strength carrying the kingdom itself. 
In the other the dark spots of the leopard show this 
dark spiritual power to be a constitutional character- 
istic, which will last as long as the kingdom exists, 
like the white or yellow and black of the leopard's 
covering. God alone can destroy such a kingdom, 
though it be a local kingdom. 

When Satan is cast out of heaven — that is, the 
region of the air — and takes charge of the kingdoms 
of earth, peace for three years and six months will 
be intense and the earth will be ablaze with mira- 
cles. It will continue throughout this time without 
an international war or discord. The ten kings are 
in union with each other. There is but one human 
government on the earth. This is certainly the first 

175 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

government of earth ever under the direct control 
and in the immediate and personal presence of a liv- 
ing, supernaturally endowed, personal agent of Satan. 
The ten kings exercise arbitrary power as kings 
without kingdoms during the interregnum, but in the 
hour " they of the people " and tongues and nations 
chosen by the armies receive power from this consti- 
tution, that of the ten kings ceases and they vest 
" they of the people " with the authority of the king- 
dom. 



176 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 



CHAPTER XIV. 



The Two Witnesses Killed in Spiritual Sodom 
and Egypt. Also Where Our Lord Was Crucified. 
The End of Popular Sovereignty on Earth. 



"And It was given unto him to make war with the 
saints, and to overcome them : and there was given to 
him authority over every tribe and people and tongue 
and nation." (Rev. 13: 7.) 

This expression shows that the reign of this king- 
dom — the kingdom of the ten kings — is over all the 
nations of earth, and it thus fulfills the prophecy of 
Daniel by a universal reign. When these saints fall, 
the last Christian in all the lands of great Christen- 
dom is killed. It is the day in which the remnant of 
the seed of the woman, the last of those who will be 
spiritually generated by the word of God, are killed. 

Let us now locate this war with the saints, or seed 
of the woman. When Satan is cast out of heaven 
and he comes to earth, the first thing he does is to 
persecute the church, and it flees to the wilderness. 
The war with the rest of her seed, in which he over- 
comes them, is at the very end of this kingdom. 

"And the dragon waxed wroth with the woman, 
and went away to make war with the rest of her seed, 
that keep the commandments of God, and hold the 
testimony of Jesus." (Rev. 12: 17.) 
12 177 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

The remnant of the church in Christendom after the 
flight of the church, as the above expression shows, 
are a people who " keep the commandments of God, 
and hold the testimony of Jesus." By this expression 
we can locate these Christians. What is the " testi- 
mony of Jesus ? " " For the testimony of Jesus is the 
spirit of prophecy." (Rev. 19: 10.) This definition 
applied to the above expression shows just who the 
rest of the " seed " of the church are. It designates 
them as prophets. Then those of the church who re- 
main in the territory of this kingdom after the flight 
of the church are prophets. They " hold the testi- 
mony of Jesus," which is the spirit of prophecy, and 
they remain to hold up the light of God's word and 
keep his commandments. Every Christian at that time 
has fled to the wilderness, except these prophets, who 
remain and keep the commandments of God like light 
in darkness. These people — these prophets — are the 
temple of God in the kingdom of the ten kings, which 
kingdom, let the reader remember, is the beast that 
comes from the abyss. 

"And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: 
and one said. Rise, and measure the temple of God, 
and the altar, and them that worship therein." (Rev. 
11:1.) 

The word of God is here called a " reed " and some- 
times a " rod." The words of the prophet give us the 
measure of the temple. 

Here we have " the temple of God, and the altar, 
and them that worship therein." The temple of God 
is his people, builded together within the metes and 
compass of his word and united by the direct super- 

178 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

natural gift of the Holy Spirit in a miraculous age. 
This is the only kind of people God ever called his 
"temple." The altar is the hearts of the same peo- 
ple who make the temple ; the measure of the tem- 
ple and they that worship therein are the number of his 
people. This measure is found in this instance stated 
in the word of God. God's word is here figuratively 
called a " reed " or " rod." It is the number of his 
people, which shows the metes and bounds of the body 
of the temple of God. 

"And the court which is without the temple leave 
without, and measure it not; for it hath been given 
unto the nations : and the holy city shall they tread 
under foot forty and two months." (Rev. 11:2.) 

The outer court to the temple or tabernacle under 
the Mosaic dispensation was a yard or inclosure 
through which, and only through which, men could 
enter the temple of God. In like manner the court to 
the church, the spiritual temple of God under the 
Christian dispensation, includes every act of heart, 
mind, or body inclosed and embraced within the 
metes and bounds of the word of God necessary and 
through which men must go, in passing from the world 
into the church. Faith, repentance, and baptism at 
least are encompassed within the requirements of the 
word of God, and without passing through these none 
can enter the church. Therefore all these outside or- 
dinances to the church are swept away and outlawed 
by this great kingdom. Thus the requirement of the 
gospel plan of salvation will cease at the beginning 
of a miraculous age and be superseded by the minis- 
try, the teaching and immediate presence of inspired 

179 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

men and heavenly angels. As the outer court to the 
Jewish temple was a physical inclosure through which 
all must go to enter the temple, so in like manner the 
outer court to the spiritual temple of God, the church, 
is the ordinances and requirements of God which 
make a spiritual outer court to the church, into which 
no man can go without passing through them. These 
ordinances are cast down at least seven years before 
the coming of Christ. This places this scene in the 
future without the shadow of a doubt. 

The word " city " is applied here to the general as- 
sembly of God's people in the flesh when in union by 
God's law with the angels of heaven and the resur- 
rected dead made perfect before God by the gift of 
immortality. (See Heb. 12: 22-25.) 

God never has applied the name " city " to his 
church when referring only to his people on earth. 
Part of his city is in heaven. Heaven is the most holy 
part of his city. When men come into the church on 
earth, they come to a city which embraces men in the 
flesh, resurrected men, and angels — three distinct 
houses. The temple and city of God seen by men on 
earth embrace all God's people who are not "trodden 
under foot," or put under martial surveillance or 
expelled. When God's people become the center 
of persecution and their light to the world shall 
be cast down and they flee to a wilderness, then 
the city of God, composed of men, angels, and resur- 
rected men, will be under foot, like God's sanctuary 
was during the Babylonian captivity. (Isa. 63: 18.) 
This is in the sense that the light of the city of God 
shown through the church will be hid from the world. 

180 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

It will continue to exist, but not as a light to the 
world. The word " foot " figuratively means a foun- 
dation. The foundation of a human kingdom is its 
martial power. The church will be suppressed by 
martial power. 

The expression, "trodden under foot," is figura- 
tive, of course, and means subdued, or put down, in 
this case suppressed by martial power, so it cannot 
be seen. Here the church is " trodden under foot," 
or expelled from the land by this kingdom, by its mar- 
tial power — its feet, or foundation. (See Luke 21: 
24; Heb. 10:29.) 

"And the holy city shall they tread under foot 
forty and two months " — showing that there is no 
other visible temple, no other house upon a hill, ex- 
cept the one here to be measured. The whole church 
(except these prophets), composing the temple of God 
in seven great provinces, is hidden from the world, 
is trodden down, expelled by martial power from the 
territory of this kingdom, and has ceased to live in 
all the lands of the dragon, which cover and embrace 
every land of Christendom, or the populated earth at 
that time. It will embrace every tribe and tongue 
and nation; not a single temple, not a human 
body, with its spirit loyal to God, will at that time 
exist in these lands, except these prophets. The part 
of the city of God composed of seven churches that 
are in the wilderness is trodden under foot. God's 
people have all been outlawed and fled from these 
lands and from what the apostle calls the " earth," 
except these prophets. The word " earth " as here 
used refers to the ordinary habitable places of earth, 

181 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

and it is often so used by speakers and writers. Men 
often speak of the earth without embracing in their 
thoughts the sea or deserts and wildernesses; and it 
is so used here, for God shows us clearly that his 
people (who are many) are still on the literal earth 
while he is thus using the word " earth." Here is the 
measure of the temple as it exists on what the apostle 
calls the " earth." It is given by measurement with 
a reed. The word of God here shows its metes and 
bounds — its measurement. 

"And I will give unto my two witnesses, and they 
shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three- 
score days, clothed in sackcloth." (Rev. 11 : 3.) 

Here is the measurement of the temple of God in 
the territory of the seven-headed beast, under the ad- 
ministration of " they of the people ; " and the meas- 
urement of the temple and its worshipers, measured 
by the word of God, shows " two," and only two, 
human beings. When the church flees, she will leave 
behind her as witnesses for God two men, who tes- 
tify, or preach — two men to hold up the light and 
commandments of God — and they will have the testi- 
mony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy. They 
will remain as prophets and compose his temple in 
Christendom, clothed not only with the sun, but also 
with the spirit of prophecy. Their days of prophecy 
will be the same number and the very same days that 
the church is in the wilderness. 

" These are the two olive trees and the two candle- 
sticks, standing before the Lord of the earth." (Rev. 
11:4.) 

The word " tree " symbolizes one or more men. 
182 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 



(See Ps. 1: 3; 92: 12-15; 52: 8; Num. 24: 6; 
Matt. 7: 15-20; Rom. 11: 17; Isa. 27: 6; Ezek. 17: 
23, 24; Dan. 4: 19-24.) The word "tree" always 
figuratively represents living men in the flesh. There 
is not a single instance in the Bible where the word 
** tree " in a figurative sense does not refer to one or 
more men, or people. Yet, in the presence of this plain 
and unpervertable meaning, men have attempted to 
prove that these two figurative trees were not two men. 
Thus many have defaced and disfigured these scrip- 
tures to the best of their abilities. 

These are two righteous men, two witnesses, two 
prophets of God. God has at no time called anything 
his " prophet " but a man. He calls these two his 
two " prophets ; " he calls them his " temple ; " he 
calls them his two " witnesses." Two men could be 
two " witnesses," two men could be two " prophets," 
two men could be the " temple " of God," and are 
such where there are no others and the Holy Spirit 
dwells in them. They could be such in a literal, spir- 
itual sense, as they are here; they could be two can- 
dlesticks or two olive trees in a figurative sense, if 
they held the light in darkness or shed forth the oil 
of inspiration like these two men do. " These are the 
two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole 
earth [Satan]." (Zech. 4: 14.) Oil is the sym- 
bol of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. (See Sam. 
10: 1.) They will be clothed with supernatural life 
and spirit and stand before Satan, who is the lord of 
the earth, for every tribe and tongue and nation is 
under his authority and obey and worship him. These 

183 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



men alone on all the earth are unassailable, are invul- 
nerable to his powers and agents. 

"And if any man desireth to hurt them, fire pro- 
ceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their ene- 
mies ; and if any man shall desire to hurt them, in this 
manner must he be killed. These have the power to 
shut the heaven, that it rain not during the days of 
their prophecy: and they have power over the waters 
to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with 
every plague, as often as they shall desire." (Rev. 
11: 5,6.) 

There is not a figurative word here, or one that 
does not make sense, in its connection in the above 
scripture. 

These are the powers which God will bestow on 
his temple, his witnesses, his prophets, his candle- 
sticks, his olive trees, his anointed ones ; and they 
need no comment. Our hearts alone need faith in 
these statements. To accept them as they are, with 
their plain meaning, is to accept the truth and believe 
that the time will come, in a great prophetic falling 
away from any pretense of worship of God, in these 
beautiful lands of Christendom, that two men, and 
only two, will live with their hearts loyal to the God 
of the Bible, and that he will protect and shield them 
from destrucion by Satan by the gift of such powers 
as we find herein described. They will stand amid 
these scenes before Satan, the god of the earth. Sa- 
tan at that time will be god and ruler of every tribe 
and nation and tongue of earth. (Rev. 13 : 8.) They 
will be able to stand against all attacks of Satan un- 
til the expiration of the allotted sojourn of the church 

184 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

in the wilderness, which is twelve hundred and sixty 
days. 

"And when they shall have finished their testimony, 
the beast that cometh up out of the abyss shall make 
war with them, and overcome them, and kill them." 
(Rev. 11:7.) 

" The beast that cometh up out of the abyss " is the 
same that rose from the sea with ten horns and seven 
heads, as we have seen, and it here destroys the tem- 
ple of God in Christendom. Here fall the last two 
righteous men in this great city of nations, and it will 
then stand like Sodom on the plains — without a right- 
eous soul to shield it from the wrath of God. 
This is awe-inspiring, amazing to contemplate and be- 
lieve — ^that in all the nations of the earth, over the 
vast extent of this, the fourth, kingdom, which is uni- 
versal, no man can be found who is called " the serv- 
ant of God." Is this the kingdom of God which his 
prophets have foretold would be an everlasting king- 
dom and stand forever? Is the church of God de- 
stroyed on earth when the temple of God in these two 
men is rooted up? No, this is not an interregnum in 
God's kingdom on earth ; for on the very day these two 
men fall and cease to be the temple of God the woman 
returns to the scenes of earth from the wilderness. 
The time for these prophets to hold the light is the 
same number of days and the same days of the so- 
journ of the church in the wilderness, as we shall see 
when we read the history of the wilderness. It is 
perfectly certain that these men do not fall until the 
church returns to the place the apostle calls the 
" earth," which is the ordinary dwelling places of men. 

185 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

"And their dead bodies lie in the street of the great 
city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, 
where also their Lord was crucified." (Rev. 11: 8.) 

" Which spiritually is called Sodom." When the 
last Christian is killed in Christendom, it will be like 
the wicked city of Sodom on the plains — without a 
righteous soul within it. When Sodom fell, it 
fell because there was not a righteous man in it 
to shield it from the wrath of God. When 
the last living Christian in this kingdom falls, it 
will be when it is truly an antitype of Sodom, when 
not a worshiper of the God of the Bible is to be 
found in any of these lands. This shows us that the 
time will come when this will be true — when not a 
publicly avowed righteous or God-fearing man or 
woman can be found in the lands now occupied by 
great and gentle Christendom. The church is in 
the wilderness, and here falls the last of God's peo- 
ple, the remnant of her seed, and it leaves all these 
lands like ancient Sodom — without a righteous person 
within them. It will be before the coming of Christ, 
and thus his coming will be after Christendom can 
truthfully be called " spiritual Sodom." 

"Which spiritually is called . . . Egypt." 
When the woman flees into a promised land, which is 
now a wilderness, they will escape from the flood — 
the waters, the people who pursue them — like God's 
people — Israel — once escaped the pursuit of Pharaoh 
and his host by being " borne on eagles' wings." The 
woman will escape from these lands to the wilderness 
by being given the " two wings of the great eagle." 
"And there were given to the woman the two wings 

186 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

of the great eagle, that she might fly into the wilder- 
ness." (Rev. 12: 14.) "Ye have seen what I did 
unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' 
wings, and brought you unto myself." (Ex. 19: 4.) 
When the woman escapes the kingdom of the ten 
kings and flees to a wilderness, like Israel escaped 
from Egypt, it will fulfill the type of Israel's flight 
from Egypt and leave the lands of Christendom a 
true antitype of Egypt when God's people fled from 
that land. 

"And their dead bodies lie in the street of the great 
city, . . . where also their Lord was crucified." 

This kingdom of the dragon will be a great city, 
composed of many nations and tongues and peoples, 
with each kingdom, or spiritual house, incorporated 
under one law or international constitution. It is a 
city of nations. A street of a city of nations is hke 
a street of a material city — it is a public place, where 
its people may and do meet each other. The street 
of a spiritual city — the capital city of a city of na- 
tions — is the place where her people meet each other 
from all the nations and tongues of the city of king- 
doms. 

"Where also their Lord was crucified." God does 
not mean to tell us that these men fell in Jerusalem 
or Sodom or Egypt, or that they are all the same 
place, or that our Lord was crucified in any of these 
places. He is not even referring to Jerusalem, for 
Jerusalem was never a city of nations. But they fall 
in the capital of a spiritual city, like the spiritual city 
of Rome, in which Christ was crucified. The like- 
ness between this union of nations and the union of 

187 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

the provinces and nations under the Roman empire at 
the time Christ was crucified is very much the same. 
This city of nations is an international repubHc, Hke 
Rome, and it is the identical kingdom, or form of 
government, the spiritual place wherein our Lord was 
crucified. 

It is a city of nations, built within the metes and 
bounds of the same kingdom, of the same democratic 
form of government, wherein Christ was crucified. It 
is the fourth kingdom, to which God here indirectly 
gives the name " Rome." These prophets are killed 
like Christ in this same spiritual place, or in this same 
form of government, which embraces many nations 
and tongues like it. 

"And they of the people and kindreds and tongues 
and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and 
a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put 
in graves." (Rev. 11:9.) 

" They of the people " — the representatives of the 
people, the officials of the beast, who came to this 
street, this capital city of the nations and tongues — 
will see the dead bodies of these two men as they lie 
in the capital of the city of nations, and by their au- 
thority they will not suffer their dead bodies to be put 
in graves. This " street " is the capital city of this 
great union of nations, and in it is gathered " they of 
the people ; " and in their midst stand these two men 
of God, like candlesticks bearing light in darkness and 
foretelling the events to come, and thus receiving to 
themselves the hatred of the people of earth. 

"And they that dwell on the earth rejoice over them, 
and make merry ; and they shall send gifts one to an- 

188 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

other ; because these two prophets tormented them that 
dwell on the earth." (Rev. 11 : 10.) 

There is not a figurative word in this statement, 
and it emphasizes the fact that these two prophets are 
men, and nothing but men. God has applied the word 
" prophet " three hundred times to men and not once 
to anything but a man. They are hated throughout the 
earth for predicting and bringing evil against the peo- 
ple of the earth ; and when they fall, all the earth re- 
joices. The impression that they will have made is 
unacknowledged by any amid the real joy of the peo- 
ple of the earth at their fall. It would have been im- 
possible to have understood how the people of earth 
could have learned of their death and rejoiced over it 
in so brief a period of time as three days and a half 
before electricity came in use; and this dissemination 
of the knowledge of the fact in so short a time would 
not only have been regarded as a miracle in any age 
of the past, but it points to the fact that this kingdom 
will continue the utilities and facilities of the present 
time, and that God knew when he wrote this history, 
some eighteen centuries ago, that they would exist. 
God here incidentally shows us, without making it of 
enough importance to present as a prophecy, that he 
knew electricity would be in use at the fall of Chris- 
tendom, and here fixes these scenes to a later date 
than even the present. The prophet speaks as though 
he lived in this age or later. Marvelous is the God of 
the Bible ! 

"And after the three days and a half the breath of 
life from God entered into them, and they stood upon 
their feet; and great fear fell upon them that beheld 

189 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

them. And they heard a great voice from heaven say- 
ing unto them, Come up hither. And they went up 
into heaven in the cloud; and their enemies beheld 
them." (Rev. 11: 11, 12.) 

There is not a word in this expression that has the 
least shade of a figurative meaning. No one can sub- 
stitute a Bible definition for any word here, and it puts 
it beyond the power of man to make anything of these 
two " witnesses " but men. 

There are quite a number of theories as to what 
these two men are. Some very popular commentators 
on this scripture tell us these two witnesses are the 
Bible — the Old and the New Testaments. One of the 
proofs that the Bible is the very thing symbolized by 
the two witnesses is supposed to be made good by 
expressions like the following : " They have Moses and 
the prophets ; let them hear them." This makes it per- 
fectly plain to those who occupy this ground that 
when we speak of Moses and the prophets we are 
speaking of the Bible itself and that they are one and 
the same. Just such strained reading and perversion 
of facts will never prove anything. A similar perver- 
sion of truth is sometimes made by those who believe 
baptism is a nonessential. They tell us that Jesus 
said, " I am the water of life ; " and, therefore, they 
conclude that when the eunuch said to Philip, " Be- 
hold, here is water; what doth hinder me to be bap- 
tized ? " he really said : " Here is Jesus ; what doth 
hinder me to be baptized ? And they both went down 
into Jesus, both Philip and the eunuch ; and he bap- 
tized him. And when they came up out of Jesus, the 
Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip." These two 

190 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

arguments are of about the same character; and if 
they are any satisfaction to those who use them, we can 
only offer our sympathy. The argument amounts to this : 
Except one be born of Jesus and Spirit, he cannot enter 
into the kingdom of God. The Bible is never called 
a " temple," a " candlestick," a " tree," or a " prophet " 
by inspiration. The Bible is never said to have a 
mouth, which implies a stomach and all the abdomi- 
nal organs. It is never said to have eyes to see with 
or ears to hear with or lungs to breathe with, like 
those two prophets are shown by God to have. If 
the word " witnesses " is figurative, which we deny and 
which needs proof and which cannot be proven, and 
if they symbolize the Old and New Testaments, as it 
is said, then it is the literal Bible, the literal Old and 
New Testament, which they symbolize, for no symbol 
can stand for another symbol. This makes this con- 
struction require us to believe that this human king- 
dom killed the Bible. There is no such a thing as a 
figurative death in the Bible, and this gives us the lit- 
eral death of the Bible. This theory gives us a liter- 
ally dead Bible for twelve hundred and sixty years. 
Peter denies this, for he says : " But the word of the 
Lord abideth forever." (1 Pet. 1: 25.) Christ says: 
" Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word 
shall not pass away." This death of the Bible is its 
literal passing away or ceasing to be for twelve hun- 
dred and sixty years. This nonsense vaunts and exalts 
itself against the word of Christ and Peter. God's 
word will never be killed for one hour or one second. 
It cannot be without dethroning God and putting his 
kingdom in a spiritual wilderness. To defend this 

191 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

theory would surely be a degradation to common sense. 
The most charitable way to treat this foolishness is to 
regard it as an unintentional ridicule upon these sa- 
cred and immovable statements of the God of the Bi- 
ble. For the Bible to desire necessitates a brain to do 
so with. In what part of the Bible is its brain located ? 
The word " blood " figuratively means " wine." It is 
literal as used here ; but if it were figurative, we would 
have the Bible turning water into literal wine, for 
wine is the symbol of blood. It is important that the 
reader grasp the fact that these two witnesses are two 
men, for this knowledge will clear the mind of many 
false theories on these scriptures and leave us capable 
of getting in harmony with every expression in God's 
word. It will silence the absurd statement that a day 
is used in the prophecy of God to represent a year. 
No man can possibly read any of these scriptures with 
such a false idea clouding his brain. There is not an 
organ of the human body which cannot be proven to be 
possessed by these two prophets. When we can point 
to the mouth, the ears, the eyes, the stomach, the 
lungs, the brain, the heart, the blood vessels, the feet, 
the legs, and the vertebra of the Bible ; when it stands 
on its feet before an earthly kingdom, like men ; when 
it can turn water into blood, like a man of God has 
done ; when it can and does bring all manner of plagues 
on the earth as often as it desires to do, like an in- 
spired man ; when it is killed, like men ; when it lies 
in the street of a city for three days and a half, like 
a dead man might do ; when God sends the breath of 
life into the dead Bible and causes it to breathe and 
gives it life, like a resurrected man has, and causes it 

192 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

to stand on its feet, like a man does ; and when the 
Bible is carried up to heaven on a cloud in the sight 
of its enemies, like Christ and others have been — then, 
and not till then, can thoughtful men accept the idea 
that these wonderfully endowed prophets of God are 
anything more or less than all the other prophets of 
God were that we read about in the Bible, and they 
were all men. The unbelief of the human heart, dis- 
played by these blighting products of the imagination, 
makes these scriptures hard to understand; and until 
we cast out these darkening theories and become poor 
enough in spirit to accept these statements just as God 
has given them, they will forever remain hard to un- 
derstand. Those who are rich in spiritual resources, 
in human theories, will ever remain paupers in regard 
to the wealth of these prophecies. We must reject 
the vain counsels of our imagination before we can 
read the word of God, and it is absolutely necessary in 
these future revelations before we can even start. 

These two men are unassailable for nearly three 
years and six months ; then they are killed by this 
government, and they lay in the capital of this king- 
dom three days and a half. God then gives them the 
spirit of life, and they stand on their feet. They are 
seen by their enemies, who are frightened when they 
behold them alive again after having rejoiced over 
their death for three days and a half. These two 
prophets hear like men, and they hear a great voice 
from heaven saying, " Come up hither ; " and they 
ascend to heaven, like Christ or Elijah, in a cloud 
from the capital of this great city, or kingdom, 
"wherein their Lord was crucified," and their ene- 

13 193 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

mies behold them as they ascend. This is a real, lit- 
eral future scene, and not a thing to be used for the 
cultivation of the imagination of man. The great 
apostle was not in the spirit in the isle of Patmos to 
write fiction or nonsense; and these events will trans- 
spire, just as God tells us they will, and it will be 
before the coming of Christ. 

"And in that hour there was a great earthquake, 
and the tenth part of the city fell; and there were 
killed in the earthquake seven thousand persons: and 
the rest were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of 
heaven." (Rev. 11:13.) 

Here we have the street called a " city." It refers 
to the tenth part of the street, or capital city of the 
nations, and not the tenth part of the spiritual city of 
nations. Seven thousand of the people of the capital 
city — ^the street — were killed ; and in it were " they 
of the people " — the representatives of the people, the 
officials of the kingdom. The officials of this king- 
dom were either killed or converted from the Sa- 
tanic worship of this kingdom to give glory to 
God. Here is the end of the kingdom founded by 
the union of the ten kings and given to " they of the 
people," who hold the executive powers and are either 
killed or converted from Satan, the god of the earth, 
to give " glory to the God of heaven." This is the 
end of the war made against the " rest of the seed of 
the woman," who keep the commandments of God 
and have the testimony of Jesus; and they are over- 
come by the beast that came up out of the abyss, the 
human interregnum, the spiritual wilderness, the sea 
composed of " many waters." 

194 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

This is the end of democracy on the earth. It 
is the end of the second universal reign of any king- 
dom that will ever be on earth. We have seen its first 
and last organizations, and have briefly passed over 
some of the events of its history ; but one of the most 
important events which transpires during its exist- 
ence is the flight of the woman from its territory un- 
der the ten kings, which took place at the very time 
of its formation and at the fall of Satan. This we 
will see in our next chapter. 



195 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



CHAPTER XV. 



The Flight of the Church to a Wilderness. 



"And when the dragon saw that he was cast down 
to the earth, he persecuted the woman that brought 
forth the man child." (Rev. 12: 13.) 

This will be the first work of Satan when he shall 
be cast out of heaven and come to the earth. It will 
be immediately after the fall of a denominational 
federation, with its rule and dominion on earth, and 
at the organization of the kingdom of the ten kings. 
After certain events, which were given in the seven- 
teenth chapter, John says: "After these things I saw 
another angel coming down out of heaven, having 
great authority; and the earth was lightened with his 
glory. And he cried with a mighty voice, saying, 
Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a 
habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean 
spirit." (Rev. 18: 1, 2.) Here we have the lands 
of the harlot become the habitation of demons, and 
it is after her fall. It is the result of war in heaven. 

"And there was war in heaven : Michael and his 
angels going forth to war with the dragon." (Rev. 
12: 7.) 

"And the great dragon was cast down, the old ser- 
pent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the de- 
ceiver of the whole world ; he was cast down to the 

196 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

earth, and his angels were cast down with him." 
(Rev. 12:9.) 

Here we have Satan and his angels on earth just 
after the fall of a federation of the churches of 
Christendom, and the kingdom of the ten kings ris- 
ing out of the sea of human anarchy, with a founda- 
tion and a constitution bestowed by Satan. We find 
the ten kings laying down their crowns to administer 
his powers, and they heal a whole nation of a deadly 
wound. These events place the fall of Satan with his 
angels, with their residence on earth, at the rise of this 
kingdom, and his first work is to persecute the church 
of God. 

"And there were given to the woman the two wings 
of the great eagle, that she might fly into the wilder- 
ness unto her place, where she is nourished for a time, 
and times, and half a time, from the face of the ser- 
pent." (Rev. 12: 14.) 

The expression, " time, and times, and half a time," 
means what? Josephus, if he can be taken as author- 
ity (and he certainly can where his statement is in 
harmony with all other facts), makes this expression 
mean three years and a half. He uses the expression 
" time " interchangeably with one year. He says 
Nebuchadnezzar was demented seven years, while 
Daniel says " until seven times pass over him." Then 
" time " is one year. " Times " is the plural for 
" time," and two is the plural for one. This would 
make the expression read, according to Josephus' in- 
terpretation, " one year and two years and a half," 
which is three years and a half. This is in harmony 
with every other statement in the Apocalypse and 

197 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

Daniel, and is, no doubt, correct. This period covers 
the whole period that the woman is protected from 
this kingdom, which lasts forty-two months. Part 
of this time — seventeen and a half days — is spent, 
under God's protection, in going to and returning 
from the wilderness. The balance — twelve hundred 
and sixty days — is spent within the borders of the 
wilderness, which, together, makes forty-two months. 

When the woman flees from the dragon, whose 
body will be composed of the kingdom of the ten 
kings, she is given the two wings of the great eagle. 
What did the woman receive when she received the 
wings of the eagle? Let us see the whole event, that 
we may comprehend what was done for her: "And 
the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman 
water as a river, that he might cause her to be car- 
ried away by the stream. And the earth helped the 
woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swal- 
lowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his 
mouth." (Rev. 12: 15, 16.) 

The " woman " is the church of God, as we have 
seen, fleeing to a material wilderness — a place on 
earth, but not on the earth in the sense of the popu- 
lated earth. It is a place out of the inhabited earth — 
a material wilderness, where there are no highways; 
a material, though ordinarily an inaccessible, place on 
the earth. When the woman flees, the dragon sends 
after her water, as a flowing stream, or river — flow- 
ing, moving water, pursuing after the woman. The 
" woman " is the people of God, gathered together in 
one great body on the borders of or near a certain 
wilderness. They are gathered together there from 

198 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

faith arising from a knowledge of these and other 
prophecies. They are encamped on the borders of 
this wilderness, like Moses and the children of Israel 
on the shores of the Red Sea, and they there await the 
salvation of the Lord. They begin to gather there 
when they see the world in a state of anarchy and 
when they hear the words of a natural or supernatural 
angel saying : " Come forth, my people, out of her 
[fallen Christendom], that ye have no fellowship with 
her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." 
(Rev. 18: 4.) 

This warning will be heard by God's people, and 
they will also, some months before this time, see the 
" buds and leaves " spring forth on " the fig tree " of 
prophetic events; and it will cause them to gather on 
the borders of a great wilderness, which is to-day, 
and has been for centuries, uninhabited by man. In 
this encampment they will stand still and see the sal- 
vation of the Lord. In this encampment they will be 
pursued by " water as a river," or stream. 

" The waters which thou sawest, . . . are peo- 
ples, . . . and tongues." (Rev. 17: 15.) 

In this encampment they will see the host of the 
armies of the dragon coming as a stream, coming 
from the mandatory organ, the mouth of the kingdom, 
to carry them away to captivity, or death. "And the 
earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her 
mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon 
cast out of his mouth." (Rev. 12: 16.) These are 
the eagle's wings given the woman. The earth opens 
its mouth and swallows up the pursuing army sent 
from the mouth, or the speaking organ, of this king- 

199 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

dom. The word " eagle," when used in the Bible 
figuratively, means a king. "A great eagle with great 
wings and long pinions, full of feathers, . . . 
came unto Lebanon, and took the top of the cedar." 
(Ezek. 17: 3.) This was a riddle unto the house of 
Israel, and here is the explanation : " Say now to the 
rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean ? 
tell them. Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jeru- 
salem." (Ezek. 17: 12.) Here the name "eagle" is 
applied to the king of Babylon, who came to Jerusa- 
lem, not by the power of a real eagle's wings, but by the 
powers of a ruler. He entered and took Jerusalem 
by the power of his armies, like the eagle ascended to 
the top of the cedar by the power of his wings ; hence 
the eagle's wings represent in this case the martial, the 
belligerent, power of the king of Babylon. The wings 
of the " great eagle " are the belligerent powers, the 
forces, of the great King, who is God. God is the 
great King ; he is the " King of kings," and, in behalf 
of the woman, sent forth his powers to help her escape 
from the dragon. The mighty, the strong, superhu- 
man power of God intervened and opened the ground 
to swallow up the flood, the waters, which are people. 
The powers of Jehovah are given to the people of 
God, and these powers open the earth, and the waters 
are swallowed by the ground. 

When Israel fled from Egypt, they were saved from 
the pursuing army of the Egyptians by the gift of the 
same eagles' wings : " Ye have seen what I did unto 
the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, 
and brought you unto myself." (Ex. 19 : 4.) 

Here are the eagles' wings given to Israel, and they 
200 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

are the same and only eagles' wings ever used by God 
to preserve his people from the temporal power of their 
enemies. It is the protecting power of Jehovah. In 
the one case the waters of the Red Sea open and close 
over an army from material Egypt by the power of 
God ; in the other case the earth opens and closes over 
an army from a land called " spiritual Egypt." 

As fleshly Israel was saved by the gift of eagles' 
wings, the power of God causing the parting and 
closing of the waters of the Red Sea over the army of 
fleshly Egypt, so in like manner will spiritual Israel 
be saved by the gift of " the eagles' wings," by the 
opening and closing of the ground over the army 
from a country called " spiritual Egypt." Who would 
say this scene has transpired in the past ? 

Thus we see that when we allow God to translate 
his own figures he shows them in real lifelike scenes 
as they will really be, and such knowledge strengthens 
our faith and causes our hearts to rejoice in love and 
tender devotion to God when we contemplate his good- 
ness and mercy to those who love him. We can, with 
God's word in our hearts, look back through the cen- 
turies and see God's people as they come out of the 
land of Egypt and stand upon the banks of the Red 
Sea. We see the waters open before the breath of 
the Lord of hosts. He blows upon the billows of the 
Red Sea, and the waters stand up on each side, mak- 
ing a dry path in the deep for the children of God. 
We see them reach the borders of the wilderness, and 
the waters, the army, the stream, of Egypt pouring 
forth into the same dry channel in the sea. We be- 
hold the meek and godly Moses raise his rod and point 

201 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

back over the sea, when its icy walls give way and 
cover the host of Egypt. These events have long since 
passed. 

In like manner we now look forward to the future, 
and by faith we hear a mighty angel saying : " Come 
forth, my people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship 
with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." 
At the sounding of these words and by the guidance of 
these and other prophetic revelations we can see every 
intelligent Christian on the earth arise and, upon the 
wings of hope and faith, flee to the borders of a great 
material wilderness. By the eye of faith in this reve- 
lation we can now look upon the gathering together 
of possibly many hundreds of thousands of the chil- 
dren of the church upon the borders of the wilderness. 
God's people will meet each other there. They will 
form one vast congregation near a great wilderness, 
which is close to the land of God's people, given them 
by promise to their father, Abraham. As they stand 
upon the borders of the wilderness, we can, by faith 
in these scriptures, see the army of the kingdom of 
the ten kings coming after them ; and in faith we see 
the weak knees and trembling limbs of the faint- 
hearted shake with fright and fear, but they will be 
comforted. With the same vision we behold the 
earth open her mouth and swallow up the army that 
comes upon them. Amid the relief and joy of this 
escape the Spirit of the Lord will overshadow his 
people, and a way will be opened and a highway will 
be made into the wilderness, and it will be prepared 
by God for the woman, and the wilderness will be 
made to blossom as a rose for her. 

202 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

When they leave their home in every land of Chris- 
tendom, they will sever every earthly tie — leave fa- 
ther, mother, wife, husband, and children. They lay 
down their wealth like the parent church at Jerusa- 
lem and seek the wilderness of promise — a place 
where Jehovah will meet and preserve and bless them. 
This revelation of the prophecy of God will be the 
directing star which will guide and lead them to the 
wilderness when these events transpire. 

These are real human events to be enacted by men 
in the flesh. They will be fulfilled. 



203 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



CHAPTER XVI. 



The Wilderness to Which the Church Flees. The 
Journey and Gathering Together of God's People 
and Their Entrance into the Wilderness, a Place 
Prepared of God. The Wilderness Identified. The 
Desolation of the Wilderness. 

A material wilderness is a place where no roads or 
material guides are. A spiritual wilderness is a place 
where no laws exist, for laws are spiritual guides. 
Did the woman flee to a material or spiritual wilder- 
ness? 

The beast of the book of Revelation existed as a 
kingdom when he had crowns on his heads and all 
the parts of his body were in union; but when his 
heads were decrowned, we found him in a spiritual 
wilderness, and in that place it was said " he is not " — 
that is, he did not exist there as a kingdom, but had 
become a wilderness. 

"And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she 
hath a place prepared of God, that there they may 
nourish her." (Rev. 12: 6.) 

When the woman flees into the wilderness, she does 
not flee into an interregnum — a state of dissolution — 
but she flees into a natural wilderness. The 
church of God cannot go into a spiritual wilder- 
ness while God is King, while his laws exist, while 

204 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

his word stands ; for upon his word his kingdom rests, 
and, while all things else will pass away, his kingdom 
will not fall, or go into a spiritual wilderness. 

"And the earth helped the woman, and the earth 
opened her mouth and swallowed up the river which 
the dragon cast out of his mouth." (Rev. 12: 16.) 
. A river is a stream of water moving in a distinct 
road, or channel, and propelled by law ; and as waters 
are people, then moving waters in a stream like a 
river represent moving people, who are guided on their 
course by a material road. The waters of the sea are 
not moved by legal conditions or regulated by fixed 
laws ; hence they beautifully symbolize a state of an- 
archy where no laws to guide exist. Then this stream 
of people was going from one territory to another in 
pursuit of the woman, and was not passing from one 
spiritual state, or mental condition, to another spiritual 
condition in pursuit of God's people, who, it is some- 
times said, had done the same thing. 

Here we have one body of people fleeing and an- 
other body of people running after them, and the 
ground opens and swallows the pursuing host. This 
flight of God's people was on the earth, which took 
part in the event. The " woman " is a figurative name 
for the people of God ; the " river " is a figurative 
name for a stream of people, or soldiers, sent by this 
kingdom after the people of God ; the " earth " in a 
figurative sense means a territory or a kingdom under 
the dominion of Satan. (See Rev. 13 : 2.) 

"And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she 
hath a place prepared of God." 

This wilderness is a material wilderness — a place, a 
205 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

territory, prepared by God for the protection of his 
people. 

Then as this is a material wilderness, it exists to- 
day. This scene has never yet transpired, for the 
woman flees from a future universal kingdom, as we 
have seen^one which has never yet existed. This 
knowledge will be of vital importance for the people of 
God to know where this wilderness is when this event 
comes to pass. Let the reader keep in mind the fact 
that God has promised to prepare a wilderness as a 
place of refuge and safety for his church when the 
time shall come that she shall flee from a universal 
kingdom dominated by seven great nations. It is not 
reasonable to suppose that God would make this prom- 
ise and not show his people just what land he would 
prepare for them. Such an omission would require 
the inspiration of his people to assure a bodily meet- 
ing, or gathering together, of his people in one terri- 
tory when this knowledge shall be necessary. The 
mind of every Christian on earth will be perfectly 
clear on this point at the time God's people shall flee 
to this wilderness. This oneness of mind of the 
church, from a perfect knowledge of the location of 
the wilderness, is represented by the singleness of mind 
of one human being — a woman. The bodily union of 
the church in a prophetic territory shows one congre- 
gation represented by the body of a woman. There 
will be no hesitation or confusion as to where the peo- 
ple of God will flee when this great prophetic event 
takes place, any more than there is shown by the 
woman who promptly goes to one place. They will 
enter the wilderness in a compact body, represented 

206 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

by the body of one human being entering one wilder- 
ness. This makes it certain that a perfect knowledge 
of the location, and even place of entrance, to this 
wilderness of promise and refuge is to be found in 
the Bible and will be known to God's people at the 
time of their flight. We believe in the completeness 
of God's revelation to man. We believe it is full and 
complete in showing all necessary things, including the 
knowledge of just where the wilderness here referred 
to is. We believe the word of God shows this wilder- 
ness of refuge for his people. We believe the word 
of God clearly shows one such wilderness, and only 
one. It requires this for it to be in harmony with it- 
self. Where is this wilderness to which the church, 
the Zion of God, will flee and which will be prepared 
by God for them? Let us identify this wilderness. 
There is but one promise, and, therefore, but one 
such wilderness. What are the requirements necessary 
to guide us in finding a description of such a wilder- 
ness if given in the Bible? We must look for a 
land prepared by God by being turned into a wilder- 
ness by him. It must be a wilderness of prophetic his- 
tory. It must be a land transmuted into a wilderness 
by God in fulfillment of prophecy. It must not only 
have this characteristic, but it must also rest under the 
promise of God that it will be made ready, prepared 
and adorned, by him according to his own characteris- 
tic in creation. These people will have been tried and 
their faith and loyalty to his word proven. We must, 
therefore, look for its adornments and splendors to 
reach, if not surpass, the beauties of Eden, which 
was prepared by God for Adam. The loyalty of 

207 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

Adam was untried when God prepared the garden of 
Eden for him. The loyalty of the church will have 
been tested and proven triumphant when the wilder- 
ness is prepared for it. Its beauties will be as fresh, 
and remain so, through the twelve hundred and sixty 
days, as glorifying to God, as beautiful to the eyes of 
man as Eden was when the morning stars sang to- 
gether the praises of Jehovah. If the revelation of 
God is complete, if all his prophecy is revealed, this 
description of this prophetic wilderness and its prep- 
aration for his church is given in his word. VVe can 
find it. 

There was once a rich and fertile land, 
Wilderness teeming with the prolific harvests of a 
Identified. soil responding to the sunshine and 

showers of a bountiful Creator. As 
the great orb of day rose in the eastern horizon, his 
golden rays awoke the notes of the glad song bird, 
which sang the praise of the Creator of a bounty- 
giving land. The sweet breath of the rose and the 
lily, washed by the fresh dews of heaven, was in- 
haled by the drowsy shepherd and husbandman as 
the consciousness of a new day dawned upon this 
fruitful land. The din and rush and active business 
life mingled with the sweet songs of children as they 
helped to make joyous and glad the active and busy 
scenes of life and animation which covered this fertile 
and prolific land. 

As the glowing sun came up in its God-appointed 
course and drove away the night, it unveiled a land 
covered with houses, palaces, and fortresses, with its 
rich fields and vineyards rejoicing in abundance, with 

208 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

its grassy hills and plains covered with vast flocks and 
herds — all possessed by a people whose density of 
population was unsurpassed on the globe. 

Where is this land, with its cities, its palaces, 
its highways, its sunny fields, its fountains, and 
its limpid streams? Where are those peoples and 
their descendants to-day? They rest in the dust of 
the earth, and, by the unerring providence and fore- 
knowledge of God, their rich land is now a desert 
place and a wilderness. 

When God's people — the children of Israel — fled 
from Egypt and sought to enter the promised land, 
they sent messengers to the people who lived in the 
rich and fertile land of Edom and asked permission 
to pass through it. They offered to not depart out 
of the king's highway and to pay for what they should 
eat, as well as for the water they drank. They were 
refused this privilege by the children of Edom, who 
was Esau, a brother to Israel. When the Edomites 
refused to let the children of God pass through their 
land, God determined to turn that land into a wilder- 
ness and a waste place. (See Isa. 34.) Thus we find 
the land of Edom was made a wilderness, was pre- 
pared in the sense of being turned into a wilderness 
by God. The land of Edom is a prophetic wilderness 
to-day. God claims its condition as a special work of 
his own determinate counsel and foreknowledge. It 
is thus far a preparation of his, and it claims our at- 
tention and investigation. 

When God foretold his decree to turn the land of 
Edom into a wilderness, he also foretold his deter- 
mination to again cause it to blossom as the rose and 
14 209 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

make it a place for " holiness " and a refuge for " the 
redeemed." (Isa. 35: 8.) This promise rests upon 
no other prophetic wilderness. This land is now a 
vast and unreclaimed wilderness. It is a depopulated 
land, and is the only wilderness that exists on earth 
at this time with an edict of God against its reclama- 
tion by men. It is the only one known to the Bible 
with the promise that it will be prepared by the God 
of the Bible for his people. It is a wilderness that 
no man or people has been able to subdue for centu- 
ries, and no man or kingdom can or has to this day 
attempted to reclaim it. Let us read the history and 
see its application to this prophecy. The prophet Isa- 
iah preludes the transmutation of Edom into a wil- 
derness by a short vision, which covers the history of 
the curse of the nations of earth as given by the apos- 
tle John, as well as by other prophets. He shows 
their final destruction at the coming of Christ, and 
then turns to the land of Edom, which he gives to the 
world as a first example of what will follow and be 
visited upon other nations at his appointed time, when 
the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll. He 
says : " For my sword hath drunk its fill in heaven : 
behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and upon 
the people of my curse, to judgment. The sword of 
Jehovah is filled with blood, it is made fat with fat- 
ness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat 
of the kidneys of rams ; for Jehovah hath a sacrifice 
in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 
And the wild oxen shall come down with them [or 
be slain], and the bullocks with the bulls: and their 
land shall be drunken with blood, and their dust made 

210 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

fat with fatness. FOR JEHOVAH HATH A DAY 
OF VENGEANCE, A YEAR OF RECOMPENSE 
FOR THE CAUSE OF ZION." (Isa. 34: 5-8.) 
This last expression shows that the land of Edom was 
made a wilderness for, or on account of, Edom op- 
posing the people of God, forbidding their passage 
through their lands. This was fleshly Israel. It was 
made a wilderness for the opposition to fleshly Zion. 
But if this is the wilderness to which the church will 
flee, it will yet receive other preparations. Its full 
desolation, as well as its adornment^ will be pre- 
pared for the woman — spiritual Zion — by the time 
she enters it. The following is a part of its prepara- 
tion yet to be added, for the following conditions 
have never existed in the past: "And the streams of 
Edom shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof 
into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become 
burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day ; 
the smoke thereof shall go up forever; from gener- 
ation to generation it shall lie waste ; none shall pass 
through it forever and ever." (Isa. 34: 9, 10.) 

This part of this prophecy has never yet been ful- 
filled. Travelers, who have made the most complete 
explorations of this wilderness that have yet been 
made, have not verified this statement ; and we, there- 
fore, may look for these things to begin and be added 
to its present desolation at the fall of Christendom. 
Just as Zion enters this land, if it be the wilderness 
of this prophecy, its desolation will be one of God's 
completed preparations for his people against dis- 
turbance or hurt while they remain there their allotted 
twelve hundred and sixty days. This would not be 

211 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

out of harmony with these statements, but would be 
in harmony with them, as well as the best lights that 
have ever been thrown on them. All these expres- 
sions have been, or will yet be, literally fulfilled. 

" From generation to generation it shall lie waste ; 
none shall pass through it forever and ever." 

" From generation to generation " — from century to 
century — it has lain waste. The expression, " for- 
ever and ever," will begin in the future, at least as 
early as the time when the streams of Edom are 
turned into pitch ; and a perpetual smoke begins to 
arise from that land, which will, no doubt, continue 
during all the years of the millennium. This would 
be in perfect harmony with these statements, as well 
as the best exploratory light we have. There can be 
no doubt that the desolations of this land will be com- 
pleted and be reigning in all the literal fullness of the 
expressions of Isaiah at the very time God's people 
enter the wilderness. God has promised to prepare it 
for Zion, by its desolation and impenetrableness, as a 
place of refuge and protection, as well as to beautify 
it for their joy and gladness while they remain therein. 
All its prophetic repelling desolations must be looked 
for at the very time it is the camping ground of Zion. 
But in the bosom of the wilderness it will blossom 
as the rose for them. This is the earliest time con- 
templated in the prophecy of Isaiah or the revelation 
of John for the completion of its repelling desolation, 
as well as its inviting adornments. Its perfect deso- 
lation is promised by God to his people in all the full- 
ness shown by his prophets at the very time Zion shall 
be abiding therein amid its prepared beauties. The 

212 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

prophets' descriptions require this, if this is the wil- 
derness of Rev. 12. 

"The woman fled to the wilderness, a place pre- 
pared of God." (See Rev. 12.) "And the wilder- 
ness shall blossom as the rose" for them. (See Isa. 
35.) 

These two statements show clearly two conditions 
which will necessarily exist in the land at one and the 
same time. For it to be a refuge for God's people 
from the paternal kingdom of the ten kings, God will 
cause its streams to be turned into pitch and a per- 
petual smoke to rise from this land when it once be- 
gins, as well as bring together in its borders all varie- 
ties of ravenous beasts and reptiles known on the earth. 
God uses these conditions to guard this land for Zion 
and shield them from the approach of their enemies; 
and we can in faith look for all the completeness and 
fullness of its desolation described by Isaiah and other 
prophets to surround the people of God in this land at 
the very time " the woman " lives there amid the inter- 
nal preparation of this wilderness by God, who will 
cause its interior adornments and splendors to rival 
the rose of Sharon and the cedars of Lebanon in their 
loveliness and beauty. He has promised this very 
condition of Edom to exist, but has not set the time. 

There has been much stress placed upon its past 
condition relating to this prophecy by both Christians 
and infidels ; yet it is purely a question of speculation 
as to whether much of the prophecy of Isaiah is really 
applicable to its past condition. It is certain God has 
not applied this prophecy to its past condition in its 
full force and completeness, for many of the condi- 

213 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

tions described have never been; but he does show 
great desolation in all the requirements of this proph- 
ecy to be in force while Zion dwells therein, and this 
is the only definite and clearly set time stated by God 
when these conditions of both the thirty-fourth and 
thirty-fifth chapters of Isaiah will be fulfilled in re- 
gard to this land. God has set no time for the fulfill- 
ment of the words of his prophets, except by showing 
its perfect desolation, as well as its adornments to 
exist at some time in its history. No one can set an- 
other time or tell when this will be. There is no 
doubt that God's purpose has been to hold this land 
desolate and attract attention to his statement in regard 
to this wilderness through the ages. It has been a 
monumental perpetuation of God's indignation against 
the nations of earth who shall oppose his children 
while they are guided by his word, as the children of 
Israel were when they sought to pass through this 
once rich land of Edom, but now a desert and a wil- 
derness. Volney, who was probably one of the great- 
est-minded and most cultured of infidel travelers and 
writers, failed to pass through or enter this forbidden 
land. He, like many others, mistaking the religion of 
the harlot spirit of the dark ages of Christendom for 
the teaching of the God of the Bible, was unable to 
accept the truth of God's word when presented to him 
clothed in the sorceric garments of mysticism woven 
by that spirit. He found the seed of speculation from 
the Christendom spirit in his brain, and mistook it 
for the teaching of God's word. While we honor his 
intellectual greatness and lament his misfortune in 
becoming a rebel pupil to blind mysticism, yet he is to 

214 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

be blamed for listening to his own egotistic delusions, 
which led him to reject the Bible without a hearing. 
He looked upon these scriptures from the speculative 
positions of Christendom. He looked within his own 
mind for the explanations of the ruins of pagan em- 
pires. He failed to read the history of the angels of 
the churches of Asia (God's people), who, when they 
left those lands in which the Son of God was cruci- 
fied, left behind them the sword of the Lord, as fore- 
told by his prophets. 

In the departure of the angels of the seven churches 
of Asia is found the cause of the ruins of the empires 
lamented by Volney. Volney failed to note the fact 
that as the angels, the people from the seven churches 
of Asia, left the east, there followed behind them the 
avenging angel of the Lord, who created these ruins 
of empires by earthquakes and pestilence and famine, 
as he foretold he would. While the angels of the 
seven churches of Asia moved westward, they bore a 
light in darkness, by which was seen vast and fertile 
countries, and in them were built new empires, more 
tolerant of the angels who brought them light. Vol- 
ney failed to see the pure light which the angels of 
the seven churches of Asia bore west, not for the 
purpose of giving light by which the heathen nations 
before them could build new empires and which will 
be turned into ruins when the angels of the churches 
of Asia — the people of God, the woman — are driven 
hence and go back to the land of their nativity; but 
they bore and have carried light to the world and 
prepared, and are now preparing, material for the 
great city and kingdom whose ruins will never be 

215 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

wept over by men or angels. These angels will find 
and make ready for the temple of God the material 
of the world ; and as they return by the way of the 
wilderness, in it will be found the glory of Lebanon 
and the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. 

Volney examined many of the " ruins of empires," 
which empires existed in Asia in all their splendor and 
glory while God's seven churches existed there and 
whose angels have borne God's message to mankind. 
When the angels of the seven churches of Asia were 
driven from the lands of Asia, Volney's ruins of 
empires arose on their vacated seats, and their deso- 
lated and empty cities, with their magnificent and 
silent wastes, foretold by God's prophets, stand to 
this day, not as monuments to the greatness of man, 
but to the unfailing promises of God. John salutes 
the seven churches of Asia while they lived in the 
splendor of the empires whose ruins were lamented 
by Volney, and Christ addresses these angels in the 
lands of Christendom when Christendom is attempt- 
ing to destroy them. 

"And he that overcometh, and he that keepeth my 
works unto the end, to him will I give authority over 
the nations : and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, 
as the vessels of the potter are broken to shivers; as 
I also have received of my Father." (Rev. 2 : 26, 27.) 

The above is addressed to the angels of the seven 
churches of Asia while in collision with the kingdom 
of Christendom. " He shall rule them with a rod of 
iron ; " they shall be " broken to shivers." We have 
seen the rule of the man child of the woman before 
she flees to the wilderness; we have seen the nations 

216 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

fall while they live in the light of the moon — a harlot 
woman, a harlot religious people. Thus we find the 
angels of the seven churches of Asia. are addressed 
by Christ in the lands of Christendom. 

"And the woman fled into the wilderness." When 
the angels of the seven churches leave the lands of 
Christendom, when the woman flees into the wilder- 
ness, God tells us these great empires will be, like 
those of the east, turned into ruins ; they will be depop- 
ulated by fire and sword and earthquake and fam- 
ine and pestilence. "And there was a great earth- 
quake, such as was not since there were men upon 
the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty." (Rev. 
16: 18.) Here God points us to the ruins of the 
empires of the west, and it is after the children of 
God have fled from the lands and cities of the great 
spiritual city of Babylon. "And the great city was 
divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations 
fell: and Babylon the great was remembered in the 
sight of God, to give, unto her the cup of the wine of 
the fierceness of his wrath." (Rev. 16: 19.) The 
lands of vast Christendom by this earthquake will be 
divided into three parts, and the splendid cities of her 
nations will fall. They will remain to mark the ruins 
of her empires. It is the cup of the wine (the blood) 
of the fierceness of God's wrath poured out on the 
nations in memory of the great city of spiritual Baby- 
lon, who will persecute the woman and drive her into a 
wilderness, like the angels of the churches of Asia were 
persecuted and driven out by the empires whose ruins 
were seen and lamented by Volney. 

When God's people are driven hence and flee from 
217 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

the lands of Christendom, it will be the beginning of 
the desolation of the now beautiful lands in which 
God's people live. Her magnificent cities will be de- 
stroyed by earthquakes, and famines and plagues will 
destroy her inhabitants. It is hard to realize that the 
beautiful and magnificent cities and towns which cover 
the earth will in a few brief years after the begin- 
ning of the events of the book of Revelation be empty 
and vacated. The ruins of her edifices and temples 
will cumber the earth amid the oppressive silence of 
empty streets and vacated highways. 

Volney saw many of the ruins of empires, but he 
failed to look upon the ruins of Edom. 

" But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess 
it ; and the owl and the raven shall dwell therein : and 
he will stretch over it the line of confusion, and the 
plummet of emptiness. They shall call the nobles 
thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there; and 
all its princes shall be nothing. And thorns shall 
come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in the for- 
tresses thereof ; and it shall be a HABITATION OF 
JACKALS, a court for ostriches. And the wild beasts 
of the desert shall meet with the wolves, and the wild 
goat shall cry to his fellow; yea, the night monster 
shall settle there, and shall find her a place of rest. 
There shall the dart snake make her nest, and lay, 
and hatch, and gather tinder her shade; yea, there 
shall the kites be gathered, every one with her mate. 
Seek ye out of the book of Jehovah, and read : no one 
of these shall be missing, none shall want her mate; 
for my mouth, it hath commanded, and his Spirit, it 
hath gathered them. And he hath cast the lot for 

218 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by Hne : 
they shall possess it forever ; from generation to gen- 
eration shall they dwell therein." (Isa. 34: 11-17; 
see also Jer. 49: 20; Obed. 1 : 9, 10.) 

Can human language present a description of a wil- 
derness and show it to be more solitary, more desolate, 
and more barren? The thorn tree and the bramble 
grow amid the silent and desolate ruins of her fallen 
palaces and decayed fortresses. The angel of desola- 
tion rides upon the wings of the hot and burning 
winds, which sweep its parched ground and barren 
clififs. Upon the wings of the blast in the wilderness 
is heard the echo of the lion's roar, the hissing of the 
serpent, the cry of the panther and the jackal. They 
will guard this land for God. The hooting of the 
great owl will be heard and repeated by her mate to 
add to the desolation which now covers the ruins of 
the empty cities, fallen palaces, ancient highways, 
and decayed and obliterated tombs of the children of 
Esau. Her desolation is great. It has been a wilder- 
ness for ages. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others show it 
to be a wilderness — " a place prepared of God." We 
doubt not its preparation as a wilderness will fulfill 
every mark of its prophetic description at the time it 
is needed by God's people. Has God promised to beau- 
tify and adorn the wilderness of Edom for his peo- 
ple? If so, we can rest assured the Bible gives the 
history of no other land on earth with his promise 
to first turn it into a wilderness and then cause it by 
his own power and pleasure to possess the beauties 
and adornments of " a place prepared of God." We 
have here seen the history of the land of Edom made 

219 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

a wilderness by the decree of Jehovah. He says it was 
for the controversy of Zion. He has promised to adorn 
that land for his people, and it is the only wilderness 
known to the Bible with these two prophetic promises. 
This being true, then there need be no doubt in our 
mind that the land of Edom is the wilderness — the 
place prepared and to be prepared by God for the 
woman. In our next chapter we will make this inves- 
tigation. 



220 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 



CHAPTER XVII, 



The Adornments to Be Given to the Wilderness 
of Edom. It Will Be a Place Prepared of God for 
His Church. 

" The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad ; 
and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. 
It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy 
and singing; the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto 
it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon : THEY shall 
see the glory of Jehovah, the excellency of our God." 
(Isa. 35: 1,2.) 

" They shall see the glory of Jehovah." " They " 
are the people of our God ; " they " are Zion, for 
whose cause, or controversy, the land of Edom was 
turned into a wilderness. The pronoun " they " can 
stand for none but Zion, for whose cause Edom was 
made desolate ; and the word " wilderness " stands for 
the wilderness of Edom, for there is no change of sub- 
ject. It is a continuation of the history of the same 
place and people. If there is a change of subject 
between the history given in the thirty-fourth chapter 
and that of the thirty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, it is 
something unparalleled in biblical phraseology. There 
is not an instance in all God's word where the writer 
changes from the history of one country and people 
to another country and people and never notifies the 

221 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

reader. If the thirty-fifth chapter of Isaiah is not a 
continuation of the history of the land of Edom with 
the people of God as given in the thirty-fourth chap- 
ter, then the whole of the latter chapter is a matter to 
be speculated about — is a history of a wilderness, a 
material wilderness, the location of which will never 
be known to man without a new revelation from God. 
We may allow our imagination to frolic and dance 
about these scriptures and show us the glowing beau- 
ties of some imaginary spiritual wilderness, as is freely 
done by some, in which "the way of the Lord is so plain 
that the wayfaring man, though a fool, may not err 
therein," but our reason, while holding to the expres- 
sions of these scriptures and the subject and context, 
will coldly dethrone our imagination and tell us this 
wilderness is the wilderness of Edom. If this is not 
true — if the subject, the people, and the place de- 
scribed in the thirty-fourth chapter is not a continu- 
ation of the history of the same place and people in 
the next chapter — then the prophecy of Isaiah is im- 
perfect, God's word is imperfect, and no man can 
do more than guess at the location of the wilderness 
that will be made to blossom as the rose and which 
" THEY," the Zion of God, will see. No adornments 
can be added to a spiritual wilderness, for a state of 
anarchy cannot be beautified or made to blossom as 
the rose. Blossoms do not grow in a spiritual wilder- 
ness. Who among God's servants, and especially his 
ministers, is not guilty of speculation here? 

When we read these two chapters connected and 
together as God has given them and with a desire to 
learn the real truths they contain, we are forced to 

222 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

the conclusion that the wilderness described in both 
these chapters is the same wilderness, with different 
histories. God describes the desolation of a country, 
which he says was made such " for the cause of Zion," 
in the thirty-fourth chapter, and he tells us this is 
the land of Edom; and he immediately begins a de- 
scription of the joy, the rejoicing, and the beauty of 
" the wilderness," that " they may see the glory of 
Jehovah," and he does so without intimating to the 
reader that he is talking of any other wilderness than 
the one in hand. No one can convict God of such a 
thing by giving the proof. When we apply the his- 
tory of the thirty-fifth chapter to another country or 
place than that of Edom, we do so without authority 
from God. There is no rule or excuse for such an 
act. Edom is the wilderness, the only wilderness, 
mentioned by God in this connection, and its first and 
second history are both given here. One is for the 
controversy of Zion ; the other is that " they " may 
see " the glory of Jehovah, the excellency of our God." 
Israel was fleshly Zion. The woman, the church, is of 
the same family; she is spiritual Zion, which are one 
and the same. The statements of Isaiah and John 
being true, we can, with full assurance of faith, ex- 
pect God's people at the fall of a federation of Chris- 
tendom churches to have fled to the borders of the 
land of Edom; for, as sure as God's word is true, 
the land of Edom will yet be a place " prepared of 
God " for the woman, for he tells us this is a fact. 
At the rise of the kingdom of the ten kings " Zion " — 
" the woman," the people of God — will, to a man, be 
guided by these prophecies, and, by a living faith in 

223 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

these promises of Jehovah, will be gathered together 
on or near the borders of the wilderness of Edom. 
They will there await the salvation of Jehovah. While 
they are gathered and waiting there, they will see a 
host from a land called " spiritual Egypt " pursuing 
them. The strong and the weak of God's people will 
be there. God here, through his prophet, by his word 
spoken centuries before this great event transpires, 
tells the strong and the brave to confirm the weak. 
He says : " Strengthen ye the weak hands, and con- 
firm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a 
fearful heart. Be strong, fear not: behold [see], your 
God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of 
God ; he will come and save you." (Isa. 35 : 3, 4.) 

"And the earth helped the woman, and the earth 
opened her mouth and swallowed up the river which 
the dragon cast out of his mouth." (Rev. 12: 16.) 

The words of the two prophets interlock ; each tells 
his part of the same great event. When the army of 
the dragon comes from the mouth, the organ of com- 
mand in this kingdom, as John says it will, and ap- 
proaches the host of Zion, Isaiah says, then will the 
weak hands and the feeble knees shake and tremble. 
But brave and strong men will be there. They will 
raise no ramparts, or barriers, of defense. They will 
believe the word of God by his prophet, and they will 
confirm the weak and fearful heart They will say: 
" Be strong, fear not : behold, your God will come 
with vengeance, with the recompense of God ; he will 
come and save you." At the sound of these words of 
faith spoken in the sight of the army of spiritual 

224 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

Egypt the earth will open and the pursuing stream 
will flow into the chasm. 

This very event will transpire in the sight of the 
people of God gathered on the borders of Edom. The 
hosts of the antitypical Egypt will go down. The horse 
and the rider will be overthrown — this time not into 
the Red Sea, but into the mouth of the earth. " The 
earth will swallow up the flood." Then will spiritual 
Zion be redeemed. They will be "the ransomed of 
the Lord, the redeemed, " and they shall walk there. 
When God comes and saves "the woman," when 
spiritual Zion becomes " the ransomed," " the re- 
deemed," then, amid the joys of so wonderful a sal- 
vation, Isaiah says : " Then the eyes of the blind shall 
be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 
Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue 
of the dumb shall sing ; for in the wilderness shall wa- 
ters break out, and streams in the desert." (Isa. 35: 
5,6.) 

"And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she 
hath a place prepared of God." (Rev. 12: 6.) 

"And the glowing sand shall become a pool, and the 
thirsty ground springs of water: in the habitation of 
JACKALS, where they lay, shall be grass with reeds 
and rushes." (Isa. 35 : 7.) 

"And the wilderness and the dry land shall be 
glad : and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the 
rose." 

Zion will enter the wilderness of Edom, which, as 

these promises show, will be a place "prepared of 

God." His people will enter the wilderness " with 

songs upon their lips." " It shall blossom abundantly, 

15 22S 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

and rejoice even with joy and singing," " Tbey 
[ every one of them] shall see [even the blind] the 
glory of Jehovah, the excellency of cnir God."' 

"And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it 
shall be called The way of holiness ; the unclean shall 
not pass over it: but it shall be for the redeemed." 
(Isa.35:8.) 

"And there were given to the woman the two wings 
of the great eagle, that she might fly into the wilder- 
ness." 

" The woman " is the redeemed of God. God saves 
her and her children. " Behold, your God will come 
with vengeance [not only with vengeance, but with 
the reward], with the recompense of God; he will 
come and save you." Zion will be " the saved," " the 
redeemed ; " for Zion is " the woman ; " Zion is the 
"they" of this prophecy, and they will walk in this 
highway in the wilderness of Edom at the time and 
when it shall blossom as the rose for them. It is the 
only wilderness mentioned in the Bible as a place to 
be prepared by God for his people. Let the reader 
note this statement and find it incorrect if he can. 

On the outskirts of this wilderness are now found 
the dim marks of an ancient highway which led 
through Edom when her fields were fertile and culti- 
vated, when her towns and hamlets were thronged 
with busy and active human life. This highway has 
been closed by the hand of God, and none have trav- 
eled it for ages. It has been vacated, except by the 
lion and the ravenous beasts, from generation to 
generation, from century to centur>\ But under the 
unfailing promise of God when the flowers shall 

226 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

bloom and the fountains shall spring up in this 
desert, the Lord will open a highway, an avenue, 
into this wilderness, which none but the redeemed will 
travel. ''-\nd a highway shall be there, and a way, 
and it shall be called The way of holiness : the un- 
clean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for the 
redeemed.'' (Isa. 35: 8.1 Xo enemy of the church 
will ever travel this highway. None but those who 
are redeemed from the power of the kingdom of the 
ten kings will ever pass over it. 

God once redeemed Israel from Egypt, and he here 
redeems his people from spiritual Eg}-pt. Those who 
receive eagles' wings are redeemed, because they are 
saved from dearh by the regal powers of the great 
King. 

The cerrainn' iat the wilder- 
Summziry of Proof ness of Edom is the place to 

of Identity of the which the church will flee is 
Wilderness. made clear and put be3'ond any 

speculation or doubt to the in- 
telligent Bible student by the following facts : 

1. The whole church — every Christian on earth — 
will know exactly what wilderness to flee to when the 
time con:es for that great event :o take ciace. This is 
shown by the singleness of mind of the woman who 
represents the church. There is no doubt or hesitation 
shown by this woman. The perfect knowledge of the 
location of the wilderness is sho-^-n by the flight of 
all Christians to one and the same place, as shown by 
the act of the s}-mbol of the church. The wilderness 
is, therefore, revealed. 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

2. The wilderness is prophetic. Edom is a prophetic 
wilderness, as we have seen. 

3. The wilderness is to be a place prepared of God 
for his people. Edom was made a wilderness by God 
for, or on account of, his people. 

4. This preparation, this transmutation of Edom 
into a wilderness, was made on account of God's peo- 
ple in fulfillment of prophecy. It was to be a year of 
recompense for the cause of Zion. (Isa. 34.) 

5. It is the only country shown in the Bible to have 
been made a wilderness on account of God's people. 
It is the only wilderness resting under God's immuta- 
ble promise known to the Bible that he will beau- 
tify, adorn, and prepare for his people. There is no 
other wilderness with this promise which has been 
made a wilderness by God. This alone should identify 
Edom as the place prepared of God for his people. 
God has promised that Edom shall be made glad, 
rejoice, and blossom as the rose for his people — " re- 
joice even with joy and singing that his people may see 
the glory of Jehovah, the excellency of our God." 

If your faith cannot rise to this great and wonderful 
revelation, dear reader, it is not God's fault; for he 
has made the identity of the wilderness of Edom plain, 
and he has separated it from all other wildernesses 
by clothing it in this promise to prepare it for his peo- 
ple. He has promised to prepare Edom for Zion, 
which is the church. (See Heb. 12: 22, 23.) The 
woman — every Christian on earth — will flee to the wil- 
derness of Edom, a place prepared of God for her, 
because God has predestinated her to do so. Nothing 

228 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

in the Bible is clearer stated. Edom will fulfill this 
prophecy. 

When God's people reach the place prepared for 
them in the wilderness of Edom, they will find every 
wild beast and bird enumerated in the thirty-fourth 
chapter ; not one will be missing ; they will all be there, 
and they will remain to confirm the word of Jehovah. 
After this, no other people will ever enter that wilder- 
ness. Therefore, God addresses spiritual Zion in the 
thirty-fourth chapter when he says : " Seek ye out of 
the book of Jehovah, and read : no one of these shall 
be missing, none shall want her mate ; for my mouth, 
it hath commanded, and his Spirit, it hath gathered 
them." (Isa. 34: 16.) 

" None shall pass through it forever and ever." 
This is an expression which will be in force at that 
time and noted and weighed by God's people as they 
enter the wilderness, for they will, under the guid- 
ance of these prophecies, follow the highway that will 
be in Edom to the place of encampment. They will 
remain there for twelve hundred and sixty days. 
"And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she 
hath a place prepared of God, that there they may 
nourish her a thousand two hundred and threescore 
days." (Rev. 12: 6.) The word "her" embraces 
every Christian living at that time and who enters the 
wilderness of Edom. Not one of them will feel the 
pangs of hunger, disease, or death while in the wilder- 
ness. " That there [in the wilderness] they may nour- 
ish her." The pronoun " they " represents supernat- 
ural ministering angels of God, and " they " will nour- 
ish the church, all the church, without the loss of the 

229 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

least particle of its body, for a period of twelve hun- 
dred and sixty days, and not years, as it is said. Dur- 
ing these days not a Christian on earth will die. At 
the very end of these days the two prophets of God 
(Rev. 11) will be killed by this same kingdom which 
will drive the church into the wilderness of Edom. 
The flight of the church from spiritual Eg}-pt,, the 
lands of Christendom, is the antitype of the flight of 
the people of God from material Egypt. After the 
type of the " eagles' wings " is fulfilled in escaping 
from the armies sent after them, in both cases they 
enter a material wilderness. The type fulfilled in 
God's feeding the children of Israel in the wilderness 
by extraordinary means points to the fact that the same 
will be true of the church in the wilderness of Edom. 
The occupation of the wilderness is in a future mirac- 
ulous age, as we have seen. After the sojourn of the 
woman in the wilderness for twelve hundred and 
sixty days, Isaiah says : " The ransomed of Jehovah 
shall return, and come with singing unto Zion " (Isa. 
35 : 10) — that is, all, without the loss of one member 
of the body, those who were ransomed, will return 
over the same highway. The same ransomed people 
will return that entered. It is very certain that these 
people who were redeemed from the kingdom of the 
ten kings never lived in the wilderness twelve hun- 
dred and sixty years, and that, therefore, a day is not 
a year in this prophecy. There never will be but one 
body of people redeemed like Zion here is. They will 
be redeemed before they enter this wilderness, and 
the redeemed, all the ransomed, will return from this 
wilderness of Edom. None of the redeemed die in 

230 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

the wilderness. None are added to the body. Here 
the type and the antitype diverge. They will not go 
through Edom, but they will return from Edom by 
the same highway over which they entered. The 
word " Zion " as used in the thirty-fourth chapter of 
Isaiah refers to God's people, for God had no con- 
troversy with Edom on account of Mount Zion in Je- 
rusalem. He did make Edom desolate and a wilder- 
ness because of fleshly Zion ; and the above expression 
means that " they " — spiritual Zion, the people of God 
— shall return from the wilderness of Edom by the 
same highway over which they will enter it ; and thus 
will " they " return from Edom and come to Zion, a 
once holy hill in material Jerusalem. This is the 
route that will be taken by God's people when they 
leave Christendom to return to the land of promise. 
They will go first to the land of Edom. As the 
fleshly seed of Abraham attempted to go through that 
land when they fled from Egypt to the land given to 
Abraham as an everlasting possession, so in like man- 
ner when the spiritual seed of Abraham shall flee 
from a land called " spiritual Egypt," they will not be 
debarred that privilege, but they will enter it, for " a 
highway will be there, and a way," and it will be for 
them. No king and army will be there to oppose 
their entrance, but they will enter this prophetic land, 
with its sparkling fountains and limpid streams flow- 
ing in a wilderness blossoming and blooming with the 
beauty of the rose. They will abide by the word of 
God and remain there the exact number of days 
stated by John, and then they will " return, and come 
with singing unto Zion [Jerusalem] ; and everlasting 

231 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain glad- 
ness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." 
(Isa. 35: 10.) 

Let the reader note the following facts : The king- 
dom of the ten kings lasts forty-two months, which is 
twelve hundred and seventy-seven days and a half ; 
and as the church remains in the wilderness only 
twelve hundred and sixty days, her sojourn in the 
wilderness is just seventeen days and a half shorter 
than the time of the duration of the kingdom of the 
ten kings. The kingdom of the ten kings is organ- 
ized before the woman enters the wilderness, as she 
flees from that kingdom to the wilderness ; and, there- 
fore, the seventeen days and a half are occupied by 
the church in going to and from the wilderness, for 
she does both after that kingdom rises and before it 
falls. God's two prophets are the temple of God on 
what he calls the " earth " while the church is in the 
wilderness. Their lives fulfill his words when he de- 
clares his kingdom will never be destroyed, and, there- 
fore, his people must be out of the wilderness and 
again in the inhabited earth the very day or even 
before these prophets fall; otherwise there would 
be an interregnum in his kingdom, on what he 
calls the "earth," at their fall and it would 
last until the church returns to some inhabited part 
of the earth. This makes it certain that the church 
leaves the wilderness and again enters into the inhab- 
ited earth at least three days and a half before the 
kingdom of the ten kings falls, for the two prophets 
are killed just that long before that kingdom falls. 
The church will come from the wilderness and reach 

232 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

the habitations of men some place between the wilder- 
ness of Edom and Jerusalem, if it is not in the city 
itself, three days and a half before the kingdom of 
the ten kings falls. It will be, then, on the very day the 
two prophets are killed in the capital city of the king- 
dom of the ten kings. They will be on their way to Je- 
rusalem or be in that city, where they will meet Christ. 
Then and there will Christ fulfill his promise to stand 
in the midst of seven " golden candlesticks " by stand- 
ing in the midst of these seven provincial churches gath- 
ered together around Mount Zion from the seven great 
provinces into which Christendom will be divided at 
the time this wonderful event is fulfilled. This great 
body of people will be seven churches in the same 
sense we use the word " church " when we speak of 
the church in the United States, the church of Achaia, 
Ephesus, or any other city or province. We will show 
this meeting of Christ and his churches in a later chap- 
ter in this volume. 



233 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Daniel's History of the Fourth Beast with Ten 
Horns. The Little Horn with Eyes Like a Man and 
a Mouth Speaking Great Things. He Has Never 
Lived, but Will Live at the Time the Ten Horns 
Exist on the Fourth Beast. 



Before we proceed with our history of the next 
kingdom, which follows the kingdom of the ten kings, 
we wish to call the attention of the reader briefly to 
the history of this same beast, the fourth beast with 
the ten horns (which is erroneously said to be the Ro- 
man empire), as given by Daniel. Daniel gives some 
facts in the history of the ten kings which John omits. 
Each prophet relates his own part of the history of 
this kingdom, and thus the revelation is completed. 
John only shows ten men as horns; Daniel shows 
eleven. John shows the kingdom with miraculous 
powers; so does Daniel. John does not show who is 
the ruling spirit or chief administrators of these pow- 
ers, but Daniel does. Daniel shows that at the time 
this kingdom is established, another horn arises among 
them, who heads seven of the ten men in the exercise 
of the powers of the kingdom. John and Daniel both 
leave the ten men in the background during the con- 
tinuan-^e of this kingdom, but they both show them 
existing later than its fall. John shows them making 

234 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

war on the Lamb, and he places that event at the com- 
ing of Christ as " King of kings, and Lord of lords." 
(Rev. 17: IL) Daniel places the ten kings with the 
eleven existing until the beginning of the millennium 
reign of Christ. (Dan. 7: 21, 22.) 

Daniel begins his history thus: "And, behold, a 
fourth beast, terrible and powerful, and strong ex- 
ceedingly ; and it had great iron teeth ; it devoured and 
brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet : 
and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before 
it ; and it had ten horns." (Dan. 7:7.) 

Here we have a beast with ten horns, and Daniel 
tells us it is the " fourth beast," which is democracy. 
The fourth kingdom was introduced by the founders 
of the Roman empire. The Romans introduced the 
democratic form of government. John shows this 
same beast rising out of the sea of human interreg- 
num, with its ten horns, and he shows it delivered to 
"they of the people." They both thus agree as to 
the form of government. From its democracy it is 
perfectly certain that it exists with its ten horns at a 
time later than the rise of the Roman empire, for in 
it we find the fully developed principles of democracy 
as introduced by the Romans. John places the exist- 
ence of the ten horns on this form of government, as 
we have seen, in a miraculous age, and so does Dan- 
iel. Daniel says : " I considered the horns, and, be- 
hold, there came up among them another horn, a lit- 
tle one, before which three of the first horns were 
plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn 
were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speak- 
ing great things." (Dan. 7:8.) 

235 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

These ten horns were not the sort of men to lay 
down their crowns, as we have seen, by the allure- 
ments of empty visions or for the vain applause of 
the people ; but when they did so, it was in exchange 
for something they preferred to the power they had, 
which was the power of kings. And they did what 
they did by their own agreement, and hence the rise 
of the eleventh horn and the plucking up of three of 
the ten took place after the establishment of this 
kingdom. When the kingdom was established, the 
ten men certainly did not retire to private life ; but they 
evidently steadily advanced in the service of Satan; 
at least seven of the ten did, and all of them are said 
to make war with the Lamb when he comes in the 
clouds as " King of kings, and Lord of lords," which 
will be when he comes with the armies of heaven. 
(See Rev. 19.) Therefore they hold some honored 
and important connection with this kingdom, and pos- 
sibly all the other kingdoms which follow this. But 
three of them at the rise of the eleventh horn are re- 
moved from their place by the little horn. The pluck- 
ing " up by the roots " cannot mean that they are 
killed, for they are on earth at the coming of Christ 
and make war on him. They were removed and prob- 
ably transplanted to other places in this universal 
kingdom from that which they assumed from their 
agreement when the kingdom was established. This 
is a figurative expression. To take up a tree by its 
roots is not necessary for the purpose of destroying 
it, but it is generally to transplant it; and this is the 
object here, for John shows them on the earth at the 
coming of Christ. 

236 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

While John does not mention this plucking up, he 
has not left a word or sentence out of harmony with 
it. The ten horns exist at the time the little horn with 
eyes and a mouth exists. Let the reader keep this 
point in mind, for the works of the little horn enable 
us to ascertain the time as given by Daniel that the 
beast exists on earth with its ten horns. What char- 
acter of being is the little horn which has eyes like 
a man and a mouth speaking great things? A horn, 
as we have seen, is a sword or weapon of a beast 
or a kingdom to make war with; and this horn, there- 
fore, symbolizes a warrior, or one equipped with bel- 
ligerent powers, leading people in war. There are 
both physical and spiritual wars ; and swords, or horns, 
captain generals, are indispensable in both. One man 
may lead people, or be a horn in spiritual warfare, 
while another man may lead an army in physical war- 
fare ; and this man is a leader, or horn, in this king- 
dom for spiritual warfare. His equipment clearly 
shows this. This kingdom fights no other kind of 
battles, for the world is in a state of international 
peace during its continuance. 

If we should find a beast — an ox, for instance, or 
any other beast — with a horn, and that horn actually 
had eyes like a man and a mouth speaking wonder- 
ful words, or, as John says, talking with " the mouth 
of a lion," and speaking great things, such a horn 
would impress us as a very extraordinary, or unusual, 
kind of an organ on a beast. It would impress us as 
a most extraordinarily endowed or supernaturally 
gifted horn. This horn has eyes like a man, and this 
is, therefore, an uncommon endowment for a horn on 

237 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

a beast. They are not pretended endowments, but real 
gifts. The word " eye " as here used is figura- 
tive and means a " spirit." " Having seven . . . 
eyes, which are the seven Spirits." (Rev. 5:6.) 

Daniel, therefore, shows this Httle horn, the eleventh 
man, not only as the chief man of the eleven, but he 
shows him with supernatural powers which are as 
wonderful as would be the supernatural endowments 
of a horn on a beast with eyes like a man and a mouth 
talking like a lion. Such a horn on a beast would be 
a marvel among wonders, and so would a man who 
could be truthfully said to be like or be symbolized 
by such a horn. The difference between this man and 
other men would be as great and marked as a horn 
with eyes like a man, and a mouth speaking great 
things would be different from an ordinary horn 
which is without eyes or a mouth. The eyes of a man 
on the horn of any animal would be the most ex- 
traordinarily endowed horn that it is possible to con- 
ceive of; yet this horn is a symbol of a man. The 
supernatural and extraordinary eyes on this horn sym- 
bolize the surpassingly extraordinary spiritual powers 
of this man, who is symbolized by the little horn with 
the eyes of a man. The eyes were supernatural gifts 
possessed by the horn ; the little horn could see like a 
man; therefore the supernatural spirits of this man, 
which the eyes symbolize, are as extraordinary and 
supernatural as eyes are extraordinary endowments 
for a horn on a beast, which are exceedingly great. 
He can see spiritually things that the natural man can- 
not see, as much so as a horn on a beast with eyes 
like a man can see things that a natural horn without 

238 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

eyes cannot see. A mouth on a horn on a natural 
beast would be as supernatural and- extraordinary as 
the eyes, and a mouth on a horn of an ordinary beast 
would represent extraordinary speaking powers in a 
man. Such a man would be able to see and talk about 
things and foretell events, as much so as a horn with 
a mouth could speak about things that a horn without 
a mouth cannot talk about. The things this man could 
talk about, other men could not even mention. Any 
symbol must be like the thing it represents. A super- 
natural horn would and could represent nothing but a 
supematurally endowed captain general. The super- 
natural endowments are given to a horn to show the 
supernatural endowments which the captain general, 
which the horn represents, would possess, and for no 
other purpose. 

There never has existed as a leader of an earthly 
kingdom since the rise of the Roman empire, at 
which time the fourth beast arose, a man who showed 
any supernatural powers whatever, much less one with 
such supernatural powers as would be necessary to be 
correctly represented by a horn with eyes like a man 
and a mouth talking like a lion. We find this horn on 
the fourth kingdom, which was introduced by the 
first king of Rome; therefore this horn has never ex- 
isted, for no ruler during the existence of the Roman 
empire or since that time in any other local republic 
could have been correctly symbolized by a horn with 
eyes and a mouth. No warrior, either spiritual or 
physical, has lived since the Roman empire arose 
with any extraordinary supernatural powers what- 
ever; neither has any pope of Rome ever pretended 

239 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

to possess so extraordinary power as this horn actu- 
ally has. No universal kingdom has ever had an 
existence in the past; therefore this horn which is on 
this universal kingdom and embraced within its con- 
stitution has never yet lived. Commentators have 
called this little horn with eyes and a mouth a " Roman 
pope," and some have gone so far as to point out the 
very man it symbolized. There never lived a Roman 
pope any more like this little horn than a grasshopper 
is like an elephant. This is too much honor for any 
Roman pope. This little horn is no more like a Ro- 
man pope than a horn, with both powers to see and 
talk like a man, is like an ordinary horn on a beast, 
which can neither see nor talk. There is not a likeness 
between this horn and any Roman pope that ever has 
existed or ever will exist. In the first place, no Roman 
pope ever posessed any supernatural powers whatever. 
Neither has any pope ever possessed any real author- 
ity from any source except a natural one. Neither 
God nor Satan has ever endowed any Roman pope 
with the least supernatural power above any other 
man. But this man is endowed by Satan with real 
and most extraordinary powers above any man in his 
miraculous age of the world and above any other man 
that Satan ever will supernaturally endow at any 
time. The two prophets of God discussed in Chapter 
XIV. of this volume, found in the eleventh chapter of 
Revelation, will have many wonderful powers from 
God. But this man, who will live at the same time, 
will receive more dazzling powers than they ; but he 
will not be able to kill them until their allotted days 
of prophecy are fulfilled. None will dare bury the 

240 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

bodies of God's two prophets, but the world will won- 
der after this kingdom, or beast, with which this man 
is connected. 

It is said that when Daniel's image of metals 
was broken at some unknown or imaginary time 
in the past, ten kingdoms were offshoots from 
it and were represented by the ten toes of the 
feet of the image or by these ten horns. It is 
said that these ten kings were supposedly ten king- 
doms. Both these statements are the purest inven- 
tions. There is nothing corroborating these statements 
anywhere in the Bible. Every Bible statement on the 
subject disproves this theory. They are as completely 
without a likeness of any symbol in these visions as 
the statement that the image of Daniel was broken 
into fragmentary kingdoms and that each kingdom of 
earth since that time is correctly symbolized by a par- 
ticle or leaf of chaff. There are several kingdoms of 
earth at this time which are manifold more powerful 
than the Roman empire ever was. These are mere 
statements arising from the dictates of the imagina- 
tion; and when some one offers some proof of this 
nonsense, it will be time to look this theory up. 

There is nothing, either as a kingdom or a man, 
that has ever existed since the rise of the fourth beast, 
with such extraordinary spiritual powers as could be 
truthfully represented by the eyes of a man on the 
horn of an ox or any other beast. Let the reader 
remember the fact that the eleven horns are on the 
same beast, and they are, therefore, united under the 
same constitution. They never existed otherwise. 
God has never called a king with a divided sover- 
16 241 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

eignty a "kingdom." For the sake of argument 
let us assume that the eleventh horn was a king- 
dom; then at least those who represented the peo- 
ple of the kingdom — the legislative, the judicial, and 
the executive officials of the kingdom — were all as 
extraordinarily endowed as this horn. One of these 
theories is as impossible and as pure nonsense as the 
other. The Roman pope, or the Roman Church, has 
never at any time been any more supernaturally en- 
dowed like this horn than the Young People's Chris- 
tian Endeavor Society has been supernaturally en- 
dowed like it. Anything with the attributes and signs 
of Satan, like this little horn shows, has generally 
been called " popes of Rome " or " kingdoms " by 
writers who appear to have had an irresistible desire 
to write. 

The fourth beast, republicanism or democracy, has 
existed ever since the rise of the Roman empire, 
which introduced this kingdom, or form of govern- 
ment ; but it has never yet had its ten horns, for these 
ten kings will exist when this extraordinary little horn, 
or man, exists, and when this kingdom has a universal 
reign on earth ; and as nothing is more certain than that 
neither of these things has ever had an existence, it is, 
therefore, certain that the fourth kingdom has never had 
the ten horns. But God tells us they will exist before 
the coming of Christ, and that they will be on earth 
at his coming, and he tells us this by the mouths of two 
of his most beloved and wonderfully honored prophets. 

The eyes and mouth of this horn show the charac- 
ter of leadership represented by him. His war is 
made, not by physical force, but by extraordinary, 

242 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

supernatural, spiritual powers; for the organs of 
speech and sight do not add to the physical ability 
of a natural horn, but the possession of them would 
destroy the usefulness of a horn on a natural beast 
in making war or defending its body. 

Speaking is the act of using the seed of spiritual 
intercourse, and seeing is using the eyes, which are, 
figuratively, spirits. The great powers of this man 
are in his spiritual powers and endowments. These 
extraordinary powers clearly locate him in the future, 
and Daniel shows him on earth : " Till thrones were 
placed, and one that was ancient of days did sit: his 
raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head 
like pure wool. . . . The judgment was set, and 
the books were opened." (Dan. 7: 9, 10.) 

This little horn will exist on the fourth beast, which 
was introduced by the founder of the Roman empire. 
This puts it beyond dispute that the Roman dynasty 
was not the fourth kingdom, but it makes it certain 
that it was the democratic form of government, which 
Daniel speaks of as the kingdom. The four kingdoms, 
represented by four metals and four beasts, were not 
the four local kingdoms or four dynasties, as it is erro- 
neously said, for this little horn exists in a miraculous 
age and will be wonderfully and miraculously en- 
dowed at the time the fourth beast has ten horns. 
Therefore this beast, or kingdom, or metal of iron, 
still exists and will continue to exist until the eleven 
horns exist. 

The misapprehension of Daniel's application of the 
word " kingdom " has led to all the speculations and 
theories on these scriptures, and these theories will 

243 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

continue to victimize the student until he learns the 
fact that Daniel did not use and apply the word 
" kingdom " to the four local kingdoms, or dynasties, 
of earth which preceded the kingdom of God, any 
more than he applied the same word to the local 
church at Jerusalem, which was the kingdom of God 
set up on earth. The local church in Jerusalem never 
broke in pieces and destroyed all the kingdoms of 
earth ; they are here now with far greater power 
and majesty than when they came on the earth. This 
is true, if the human senses and the experience of men 
can be trusted. The local church at Jerusalem has 
itself, like the four great local dynasties which intro- 
duced the four kingdoms, or forms of government, 
passed aAvay. All five of these local kingdoms have 
passed from earth many ages ago ; yet the five king- 
doms, or forms of government, they introduced are 
here to this day, and they will continue to exist until 
every word of these prophecies is fulfilled. Before 
they are fulfilled the ten horns will live, and the fourth 
kingdom will still be here with a universal reign and 
be ruled by a man — a real Satanic prophet, a real 
apostle of Satan — with as extraordinary powers and 
endowments as a horn is extraordinarily endowed that 
has eyes like a man and a mouth speaking great things. 
It is useless to try to find any man in any kingdom of 
any character, who has Hved since the rise of the Ro- 
man empire, who has been in any respect like this 
little horn. These four dynasties have long since 
passed away, but the four kingdoms exist now, and 
will continue to exist until after this extraordinar}^ 
man lives, which God's prophets locate at the coming 

244 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

of Christ, but he will at that time be ruling in another 
form of government. 

There is as much evidence that the millennium is in 
force as that these events have ever yet transpired, but 
there is no evidence whatever of either. 

The placing of thrones mentioned by Daniel is at 
the very end of the kingdoms of the earth. The plac- 
ing of thrones and the judgment referred to in the 
above excerpt are some months after the fall of this 
kingdom, for Daniel says it only continues for " a 
time, and times, and a half time," which John calls 
forty-two months, or three years and six months. 
And Daniel shows the forms of government called 
" Media and Persia " and then " Grecia " rising in 
their last cycle and running their course after the fall 
of the kingdom of the ten kings, on which we first 
find this little horn. This horn, like the ten hours, 
therefore, exists through the time of all these king- 
doms in their prophetic cycles and is on earth at the 
time of the judgment. 



245 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



CHAPTER XIX. 



The Kingdom of the Medes and Persians, with a 
Universal Reign Under the Two Horns. The Fourth 
Seal. The Image Set Up by This Kingdom. Reli- 
gious Liberty Abolished and Millions of the People 
of Earth Who Do Not Worship the Image Are 
Killed. By an Effort to Enforce the Worship of 
This Abomination, the Earth Is Made Desolate by 
One- Fourth of All Its People, Some Three or Four 
Hundred Millions Being Killed. The Government 
Mark of This Kingdom. 



With the identification of the beast of the book of 
Revelation under " they of the people," with its ten 
horns, as being the same beast described by Daniel, 
and with the clear evidence that the ten horns are yet 
to live in the fourth kingdom, which will yet have a 
universal reign, in a miraculous age, we are now bet- 
ter prepared to take up the thread of our history and 
proceed with the next kingdom. Daniel tells us it is 
IMedia and Persia. John shows the marks of that 
form of government. Daniel gives nothing of the first 
reign of Media and Persia in this vision (Dan. 8) 
that we can feel sure relates exclusively to its past 
events. Yet we cannot but regard some of these ex- 
pressions otherwise than as a double history of this 

246 



DISSOLUTION GF CHRISTENDOM 



kingdom, describing its reign, in both its first and last 
cycles, with the same words, with many things given 
of its last reign, which will be a universal reign, and 
which do not enter into its history in the past. In 
harmony with this idea, the vision of this kingdom 
is called the vision of the " morning and evening," 
and a " latter time " is also mentioned. (See Dan. 8: 
18, 26.) The beginning of the four kingdoms is when 
they come on the earth ; their end, or " latter time," 
will be just before they cease to rule mankind, and, 
therefore, just before they are destroyed by God, 
when the universal reign of Christ begins. There are 
five kingdoms, or five forms of government, on earth 
now, which are, first, the kingdom of God, then three 
forms of monarchy, and a democratic form of gov- 
ernment. All five are greatly blended at the present 
time; but before the coming of Christ they will each 
arise on the earth and show again, in their prophetic 
course, every mark of the four great forms of govern- 
ment, as well as the fifth, with all the distinctness 
which each bore in the age in which it arose. Each 
of the four kingdoms will arise with their ancient and 
distinct characteristics, and they will be again as strik- 
ing in their individual characteristics as the four metals 
of Daniel's image were distinct from each other. The 
church of God will likewise be divorced and separated 
from all earthly institutions as completely as it was in 
the first century or as the stone on the mountain was 
distinct and separated from the materials of the sym- 
bolic image on the plain. 

Daniel shows Media and Persia in his vision (chap- 
ter 8), and he describes it exactly like John does the 

247 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

kingdom he saw rise at the fall of the kingdom of the 
ten kings. In describing this kingdom Daniel says : 
" Then I Hfted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, 
there stood before the river a ram which had two 
horns." (Dan. 8:3.) 

John describes it thus: "And I saw another beast 
coming up out of the earth ; and he had two horns like 
unto a lamb, and he spake as a dragon." (Rev. 13: 
11.) The word "earth," in its figurative use, means 
the dominion of Satan ; for this kingdom is from the 
dragon, the preceding kingdom. Out of the kingdom 
of the ten kings its body came. 

This beast follows the dissolution of the beast with 
the ten horns. 

" I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, 
and southward ; and no beasts could stand before him, 
neither was there any that could deliver out of his 
hand ; but he did according to his will, and magnified 
himself." (Dan. 8: 4.) 

"The ram which thou sawest, that had the two 
horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia." 

This is all the history of this kingdom given by 
Daniel, and there is nothing here that points to any 
acts that might not have been performed by this king- 
dom in its first cycle, at its conquest of Babylon on 
the plains. Yet John clearly places its last reign im- 
mediately after the fall of the ten horns and existing 
in a miraculous age with miraculous powers. Speak- 
ing of this lamb with two horns, John shows it 
making an image of the kingdom of the ten kings. He 
says : " Saying to them that dwell on the earth, that 
they should make an image to the beast [with ten 

248 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

horns] who hath the stroke of the sword and hved." 
(Rev. 13:14.) 

This makes it certain that this kingdom, which John 
says has two horns, Hke a lamb, and Daniel says was 
like a ram with two horns, and names " Media and Per- 
sia," will exist after the kingdom with the ten horns 
and a wounded head, for it sets up an image of that 
very beast. The beast with the ten horns, at the time 
the horns exist, will, as we have seen, be in a miracu- 
lous age, as is clearly shown by both Daniel and John ; 
and as there has been no man with the least miraculous 
power from Satan (like the eleventh horn will have) 
since the rise of democracy, the fourth beast, we know, 
beyond a doubt, the time for the ten men to exist in 
that kingdom, or form of government, will be in the 
future. There is nothing more certain than this, and 
yet John shows the lamb (Media and Persia) with 
the two horns rising in its last cycle, just after the fall 
of the kingdom with the ten horns. This makes it 
certain also that this history of this kingdom is in the 
future, as given by both. (See Rev. 13 : 1, 11.) 

John closes the history of this kingdom with it stand- 
ing. But Daniel shows its power over the earth 
broken by the kings of Grecia. Pointing to the fu- 
ture, Daniel says: "And he said. Behold, I will make 
thee know what shall be in the latter time of the in- 
dignation ; for it belongeth to the appointed time of 
the end." (Dan. 8: 19.) That this latter time of 
the indignation is yet to be is about as certain as 
it is that the wrath of God has not already been 
appeased by the destruction of the kingdoms of earth 
for the reign of Christ, as he has decreed. The lat- 

249 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

ter time of the indignation is the termination and end 
of the indignation, and it is at the time they are de- 
stroyed by Christ ; for this indignation, with the vision 
of Media and Persia, " belongs to the time of the 
end " of these kingdoms. 

The destruction of the kingdoms of earth for the 
universal reign of Christ will certainly not be without 
the transgression of these kingdoms, and, therefore, 
some indignation of God against them ; but it will be 
when " the fullness of transgression has come," when 
these kingdoms each attempt to occupy the whole 
earth and destroy his people. 

John says: "And I saw another beast coming up 
out of the earth ; and he had two horns like unto a 
lamb, and he spake as a dragon." (Rev. 13: 11.) 

The kingdom preceding this kingdom was called 
"the dragon" (see Rev. 12: 13), which had a little 
horn with a mouth speaking great things (see Dan. 
7:8). This, the kingdom with the two horns, which 
Daniel tells us was the kingdom introduced by Media 
and Persia, could speak like the preceding kingdom, 
which had the little horn with a mouth. The two 
horns of this kingdom had all the powers of the 
prophet of the kingdom with the ten horns. 

"And he exerciseth all the authority of the first 
beast in his sight. And he maketh the earth and 
them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, 
whose death stroke was healed." (Rev. 13 : 12.) 

The beast " whose death stroke was healed " was 
that of the ten kings, the one headed by seven nations 
and having ten horns, and the " death stroke " was 
the wound of a whole nation, which was healed by 

250 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

the miraculous power of the beast. This kingdom has 
all the powers of the preceding kingdom that per- 
formed this miracle, and his authority extends over all 
the earth, for " he maketh them that dwell therein to 
worship the first beast." Here is the first universal 
reign of the kingdom called " Media and Persia." 

Here we find religious liberty abolished. Here we 
find the last institution of great Christendom, includ- 
ing her many great and powerful denominations, abol- 
ished and completely suppressed. Here we see the 
very last of Christendom institutions completely swept 
from earth and her people brought under the most 
oppressive and repulsive forms of satanic worship. 
When we say that this is before the coming of Christ 
and in harmony with every word bearing on this sub- 
ject in either the Old or New Testament, let no one 
reject it without a hearing and a thorough comparison 
with the scriptures. Every plant not planted by God 
will be rooted up. (Matt. 15 : 13.) They will not be ab- 
sorbed by the power of the church to convict and con- 
vince (the church has no such power), but they will 
be literally rooted up by great revolutions, as these 
scriptures clearly show. Here we are shown that 
not an institution of Christendom which is now hon- 
ored, loved, and cherished by teeming millions will be 
on earth at the coming of Christ. The preceding 
kingdom tolerated the " names of blasphemy " on its 
seven heads, showing that denominational religion was 
tolerated in that kingdom (the kingdom of the ten 
kings), and, therefore, all other religions, for the ten 
kings and that beast hated the harlot. If we find the 
form of worship of the children of that religious spirit 

251 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

tolerated, we need not doubt that all other religions 
are tolerated. But the next kingdom casts down the 
law of religious liberty and supersedes it by coercion 
and force, and " maketh all the earth to worship " the 
image of the preceding kingdom. This is Media and 
Persia, a kingdom shown by both Daniel and John to 
have unchangeable laws. This kingdom rises with this 
law in force and causes all the people of earth to wor- 
ship an image of the preceding kingdom, the kingdom 
of the ten kings. It is, therefore, certain that this is an 
international worship, the legalized worship of the 
people of all the earth during its reign. The word 
" earth " is used in the above sense many times ; and 
if the reader will notice, its application is to the peo- 
ple of the world, and not to the church returning 
from the wilderness, just at or a few days before the 
beginning of this, the last cycle and first universal 
reign of Media and Persia. 

"And he doeth great signs, that he should even make 
fire to come down out of heaven upon the earth in the 
sight of men. And he deceiveth them that dwell on 
the earth by reason of the signs which it was given 
him to do in the sight of the beast." (Rev. 13: 
13, 14.) 

There is not one figurative word in this expression, 
except the word " beast," which means the kingdom 
with the two horns. He causes fire — literal fire — to 
come down out of heaven in the sight (or in the 
presence) of the officials of this kingdom and before 
the eyes of the people. He — the man or men spoken 
of here, the head of the kingdom — is supernaturally 
endowed, is a false prophet or prophets, who believes 

252 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

in Satan, for no man but a prophet of Satan or God 
can perform miracles. 

" Saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they 
should make an image to the beast who hath the 
stroke of the sword and lived." (Rev. 13 : 14.) 

Men cannot make an image with life. All images 
made by men are inanimate and are composed of ma- 
terial things — such as wood, stone, metals, or some- 
thing material. This image was to represent a king- 
dom, and it was no imaginary spiritual combination, 
like it is sometimes said to be, but represented in some 
way the bodily likeness of the preceding kingdom. 
When this image is made, it will be the union of all the 
parts of the image in the shape of the beast, if it is 
like the description here given by John. The image 
set up by this kingdom, like that seen by Nebuchadnez- 
zar and like any real image, will have all its parts in 
union. This image is the image of the beast with the 
ten horns, as described by John, and it will be built 
like men would build a house or a monument. It 
will have the statues of ten men put on it, with a dia- 
dem on each; they will also put seven heads, moun- 
tains, high places, on its body; and if they write on 
the seven heads all the names of blasphemy which will 
be names of blasphemy at that time in Christendom, 
they will write the name of every religious organ- 
ization of man on the earth; and if they do this, 
they will literally cover seven large heads ; for the 
names of blasphemy referred to here even now num- 
ber thousands and embrace all religious institutions 
organized by man and called any kind of " Christian." 

After this kingdom abolishes and outlaws every reli- 
253 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



gious creed and denomination on earth, we find it 
building this great image. It has the name of every 
denomination written upon it. They will then be 
names of blasphemy, as we have seen. It preserves 
these names; yet it utterly roots up all these institu- 
tions themselves. This appears to be the last record 
of the denominations ever to be made on earth. 

"And it was given unto him to give breath to it, 
even to the image of the beast, that the image of the 
beast should both speak, and cause that as many as 
should not worship the image of the beast should be 
killed." (Rev. 13: 15.) 

He gives breath to the image ; he gives it life ; and it 
was, therefore, like all images — inanimate. 

In Rev. 6, as we have seen, the first seal symbol- 
ized the man child of the church; the second repre- 
sented a spiritual wilderness ; and the third represented 
the kingdom of the ten kings. We, therefore, con- 
clude that the fourth seal represents the next king- 
dom with two horns, which we are now considering 
and which John here presents in Rev. 13, immediately 
after the fall of the kingdom of the ten kings. Its 
succession shows this to be correct, as well as its 
character. Here is its description as given in the 
fourth seal : "And when he opened the fourth seal, 
I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying. 
Come. And I saw, and behold, a pale horse : and he 
that sat upon him, his name was Death; and Hades 
followed with him. And there w^as given unto them 
[Death and Hades] authority over the fourth part of 
the earth, to kill with sword, and with famine, and 

254 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

with death, and by the wild beasts of the earth." 
(Rev. 6: 7,8.) 

The evidence that we have of the length of the time 
of the existence of this kingdom shows it to be but a 
few months. It and the kingdom following it exist 
only one thousand and twenty-three days; it runs its 
fearful course and divides one thousand and twenty- 
three days with the next kingdom; therefore its days 
are but few in its universal reign on earth. Yet God 
here tells us that it had authority over one-fourth of 
all the people of earth to kill them with the sword, with 
famine, with disease, and by the wild beasts of the 
earth. If the population of the earth does not dimin- 
ish before the rise of this kingdom, it will, in its brief 
reign, destroy over four hundred millions of people — 
one-fourth of all mankind. Amid this great desola- 
tion of the earth by this kingdom we find an abomi- 
nation in the worship of an image set up, and all who 
do not worship it are slain by the sword or perish by 
famine (hunger) or by death (disease) or are de- 
stroyed by the wild beasts of the earth. The desola- 
tion of the earth and the wretchedness of the people 
who have any lingering love for their Christendom 
religion or for the God of the Bible, or who abhor the 
abomination of image, or idol, worship, is beyond the 
power of human language to describe. Some parts 
of the world must be almost totally depopulated ; for 
this enormous destruction of human life will not be 
equalized over the earth, for in parts of the world the 
people will abhor the abominations of this kingdom 
much more than in other sections of the earth. 

It is hardly reasonable to beHeve that the nations 
255 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

which have been taught for ages to abhor and reject 
all kinds of image worship will be able to reject the 
lessons of centuries and surpass all the nations of 
earth in worshiping this miraculously endowed image. 
This fact seems to point toward the East as the cen- 
tralizing point for the greatest earthly powers at the 
coming of Christ. The people of Europe and Amer- 
ica have surmounted every obstacle that they have 
found before them. Their power and greatness have 
grown through the ages under the influence of the 
" seed of men ; " and when this is taken away and the 
kingdoms of earth are suddenly swept back into pa- 
ganism, it is more reasonable to look for a weakening 
in the powers of Western nations. 

"And it was given unto him to give breath to it, 
even to the image of the beast, that the image of the 
beast should both speak, and cause that as many as 
should not worship the image of the beast should be 
killed." 

This is a law of this kingdom whose dominion is 
over all the earth. Whosoever refuseth to worship 
this image shall be killed. This kingdom has every 
power of the preceding kingdom, and its strength is 
in both its captivating and astonishingly miraculous, 
as well as military, powers. This law is an edict from 
the image set up. The image itself makes the law. 
It is worshiped as a god. To repudiate and change 
this law would be to dishonor and set aside the author- 
ity of its miracle-working god, who is the head of the 
kingdom. This law must and will stand while the 
kingdom stands. It is unchangeable law. To change 
or repeal this law or any law from a god of worship 

256 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

is to destroy the authority and degrade the god who 
made the law. Hence, John here, Hke Daniel, shows 
this kingdom with two horns like a lamb to have un- 
changeable laws. This is a law of Media and Persia 
yet to be enacted. To change a law made by a power 
claimed to be infallible is to undermine and destroy 
that power. 

Here is the establishment of a form of worship 
which is an abomination in the sight of God, as well 
as in the sight of all who believe in the God of the Bi- 
ble. Is this the abomination of desolation spoken of 
by Daniel (see Dan. 11: 31) and referred to by 
Christ ? Christ says : " When therefore ye see the 
abomination of desolation, which was spoken of 
through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place 
(let him that readeth understand)." (Matt, 24: 15.) 
This abomination spoken of by Daniel is placed amid 
scenes yet to be enacted. Therefore this reference of 
Christ points to the future. Daniel speaks of the Ro- 
man army at the destruction of Jerusalem as " wings 
of abomination " (Dan. 9: 27), for the word " wings " 
figuratively means "armies" (see Ezek. 17: 3). Let 
us make the proper distinction here that we may un- 
derstand the true application. 

We find Media and Persia in John's history here 
setting up a great image, and its worship is received 
into the hearts of millions of the fallen children of 
Christendom. This worship^ stands in the human 
heart — a place created holy and for a sanctuary that 
God himself might occupy it. And to force its en- 
trance into the hearts of all men, an unchangeable law 
is enacted to kill all who do not receive it ; and thus 
17 257 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

the whole earth is made desolate by the enforcement 
of this law and the setting up of this abomination 
spoken of by Daniel, referred to by Christ, and detailed 
here by John. 

"And he did very abominably in following idols, 
according to all that the Amorites did." (1 Kings 
21:26.) 

This and many other scriptures attest the fact that 
idol, or image, worship, or the worship of any other 
god except the God of the Bible, is an abomination 
to him. The worship of this image is an abomination 
in the sight of God, and the whole earth will be deso- 
lated by enforcing this abominable worship. The en- 
forcement of this abomination will desolate the earth 
by destroying many hundreds of thousands and mil- 
lions of people. It is certainly the abomination of 
desolation of prophecy, for it fulfills the meaning of 
these words in the most fearful and literal manner. 
It is the greatest historic desolation in the annals of 
the human family. 

"And he causeth all, the small and the great, and 
the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, 
that there be given them a mark on their right hand, 
or upon their forehead ; and that no man should be 
able to buy or to sell, save he that hath the mark, 
even the name of the beast or the number of his 
name." (Rev. 13: 16, 17.) 

The word " beast " is the only figurative word in 
this verse. It means just what it says. 

This is an unchangeable law of this kingdom com- 
ing from the same Lawgiver, and the meaning of its 
words are so plain that he who will allow the words 

258 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

to remain as God has given them can at a glance com- 
prehend their meaning. This kingdom is a universal 
kingdom, for it " causeth all, the small and the great, 
and the rich and the poor, and the free and the 
bond," to receive this government mark; and he 
thus " maketh the earth and them that dwell there- 
in to worship the first beast whose death stroke 
was healed." This shows the fall of every form 
of worship, except the worship of this image. 
(See 2 Thess. 2: 3.) Every denomination of 
earth has passed away. Is it possible that most of 
mankind will be as truly devoted to this religion as 
they ever were to the Christendom or denominational 
religions? At the rise of this kingdom they will have 
had three years and six months' training under the 
kingdom of the ten kings and the tutorage of the lit- 
tle horn with eyes like a man and a mouth speaking 
great things. At the same time it will be while reli- 
gious liberty continues under this dominion, and thus 
many will be prepared by these events to worship this 
image. A majority of the world will be thus pre- 
pared to worship the image during the forty-two 
months and while the denominations were allowed to 
exist. By this sweeping and unchangeable law about 
three or four hundred millions of the people of earth 
will be destroyed because they refuse to bow to this 
image and receive its mark that all may know that 
they are worshipers of this image. Here is the fall- 
ing away referred to by Paul. (2 Thess. 2: 1, 2.) 
Only one-fourth of the people of all the earth rejected 
this law, and they perished by the sword and by hun- 
ger and by death or disease or by the wild beasts of the 

259 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

earth. A great host of people will, therefore, fall 
away from the semblance of worshipers of the God 
of the Bible — some twelve or fourteen hundred mil- 
lions of people, three-fourths of all the people of 
earth, which is, indeed, a great host; and they freely 
or by coercion become followers of Satan, the god 
of this kingdom, and, therefore, the lord of the whole 
earth, for this kingdom is a universal kingdom. It is 
hard to realize that the children of Christendom who 
live during the existence of this kingdom will wear 
an outward sign or mark on the hand or forehead 
which will show they are worshipers of this image. 
When they meet each other upon the street or high- 
way or in public assemblies, this mark on the cuticle 
will show to each other that they are brethren and are 
worshipers of Satan. Will these people think of the 
God of the Bible and the God of their fathers as a 
back number in a progressive world? Many, no 
doubt, will glory in this mark as a great stride in a 
progressive people and look back upon what they be- 
lieve to be the stupidity and narrow-mindedness of 
their ancestors; but this exultation will be of the 
briefest. 

When this abomination is set up and supported by 
the strong hand of desolation in this kingdom, wield- 
ing these universal and unchangeable laws, we can 
behold the flight of hundreds of millions of people 
as they escape the sword of this kingdom and flee to 
the mountains and deserts and there perish from sick- 
ness and hunger and the wild beasts of the earth. He 
who fails to escape from Christendom with the people 
of God at the summons of a mighty angel, whose 

260 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

glory will light the earth, at the fall of a federation 
of the churches — he who refuses to leave all and 
come out of these lands will first be stripped of all his 
earthly possessions by the preceding kingdom, which 
will make the people naked and leave them in their 
poverty and desolation, with their denominational 
worship, for three years and six months. 

Then at the rise of this, the next kingdom with two 
horns like a lamb, they will perish by the sword of 
this kingdom or by hunger or disease or by the wild 
beasts of the earth. They will either meet death from 
one or the other of these causes or they will do worse. 
They will receive a government mark from the king- 
dom on their right hand or forehead as a badge or 
mark of citizenship to show they are worshipers of 
this image and belong to the family of Satan. There 
could be no other reason for the kingdom adopting 
such a mark. 

How any man can apply these events to any things 
of the past is hard to comprehend. Men who do not 
have this protecting mark will be killed by the sword 
or they will flee, and many will perish by hunger or 
disease or by wild beasts. A mark on the forehead or 
right hand is nothing and can be proven to be nothing 
but a line or character traced there by some suitable 
means. We may let our imagination frolic over this 
government mark and call it " figurative " if we 
choose, a thing we cannot prove, or apply it to some 
of the names or acts of the Roman popes and thus 
do them undue honor; but our reason should by all 
means stand by the facts herein stated; and if it does, 
it will tell us this mark will yet be in force, and it will 

261 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

be enforced by two spiritual leaders of a kingdom 
showing most extraordinary miraculous powers. Be- 
fore we apply this act to any act of the pope of Rome 
in any age of the world, it is necessary for us to show, 
and not assume, that some pope could perform mir- 
acles ; and this, of course, is a thing no man can do, 
for no pope of Rome has ever had the slightest super- 
natural powers. No pope of Rome was ever miracu- 
lously, spiritually gifted above the lowest peasant who 
ever believed in the doctrines of that denomination. 
When we call it " figurative,'* let us at least be able to 
show one figurative word with a Bible definition. 
This we cannot do. 

When these prophecies begin to be fulfilled, their 
fulfillment will be as plain as the success of the denom- 
inations of earth to rule, as well as ruin, the first univer- 
sal kingdom of earth and mutilate the Bible. They will 
be as plain and unmistakable as the use of the power 
of a universal kingdom for the purpose of supporting 
this federation of churches and enforcing its doctrine ; 
yet many will still be unbelieving and hope and linger 
in the vain expectation that things will again settle 
down and be peaceably and speedily adjusted. Many 
will hope thus until they see the blood of martyrs and 
saints flow for the word of God and for the upholding 
of his dominion on the earth. These things will be 
plain to those who read these scriptures by the light 
of God's word, but many milHons will never read or 
believe them until after it is too late. A knowledge 
of these revelations after they come to pass will be 
useless as regards this life. Men will see the second 
kingdom arise after the forty-two months are expired 

262 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

and see it erect this image with its unchangeable laws, 
drag the earth like a fisherman's net for all who will 
not become children of the devil and receive his mark. 
It will be too late to be saved on earth from death, 
but they can then die with a promise of eternal salva- 
tion. This kingdom has " two horns like a lamb." 
Daniel says it is a " ram." The word " lamb," figu- 
ratively, means a " savior." This kingdom here pre- 
sents itself as a Savior, a " false Christ," offering sal- 
vation by the worship of a great image made of mate- 
rial things. It is a lamb, a false Christ, and it is offer- 
ing salvation to all the earth and backing its offer by 
miracles which but few will be able to resist and not 
be deceived by their magnitude. Christ, referring to 
these events which are to transpire shortly before his 
coming, says : " For there shall arise false Christs, 
and false prophets, and shall show great signs and 
wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the 
elect." (Matt. 24: 24.) And John says: "And he 
doeth great signs, that he should even make fire to 
come down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight 
of men. And he deceiveth them that dwell on the 
earth by reason of the signs which it was given him 
to do in the sight of the beast." (Rev. 13 : 13, 14.) 

Christ here foretells, in a general way, this false 
Christ with great miraculous powers deceiving men. 
John here describes a government like a Christ or lamb, 
a Savior offering salvation and backing his offer by 
miracles which deceive most of mankind. 

Not since the apostolic age has there ever appeared 
on earth any man or earthly government offering sal- 
vation and backing the offer with miraculous powers 

263 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

like this kingdom. But just as certain as this prophecy 
is ever fulfilled, this lamb, this false Christ, will offer 
salvation to men; and he will perform such mighty 
works that, if it were possible, the very elect will be 
deceived by his signs. There is nothing more certain 
than that this prophecy of Christ has never yet been 
fulfilled, and it v/ill never be fulfilled until there 
ariseth one or more false Christs with real miraculous 
powers — powers which will be real and not merely 
pretended powers ; powers which will call fire down 
from heaven, heal the wounded and sick, and cause a 
dumb and inanimate image to speak and become a 
lawgiver for the kingdom. 

It is mockery to ask if these things have ever tran- 
spired. These are some of the miracles referred to 
by Christ, and they will take place amid the greatest 
tribulations that it is possible for the mind to grasp, 
which will continue through this kingdom and not be 
much abated in the next kingdom. 

" Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let 
him count the number of the beast ; for it is the num- 
ber of a man : and his number is Six hundred and 
sixty and six." (Rev. 13 : 18.) 

This number is an ordinary number in human lan- 
guage, for it is the number of a man, and not a super- 
natural mark, with a meaning to be learned only by 
inspiration ; but he that hath understanding in count- 
ing in the numeral figures or characters of men, when 
he sees it, can count and find the true answer, w^hich 
will be six hundred and sixty-six. To attempt to tell 
what are the numbers or characters whose answer 
will be six hundred and sixty-six, without seeing them, 

264 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

would be about as wise as to attempt to give the mean- 
ing of any other unrevealed mystery. When this mark 
is adopted by this kingdom, it will be readily under- 
stood, and the plain fulfillment of these scriptures will 
appear to many, and the number six hundred and 
sixty-six will be remembered by them for years after 
the Bible has been suppressed on the whole inhabited 
earth, and its remembrance will awaken the mind to 
the fact that these miracles are the works of Satan 
and this mark is his mark. It will cause thousands to 
reject it even in the face of death. This number is 
easily remembered, and it will be one of the last ap- 
peals of God that will ever be made to men to save 
them through his written word. 

There have been all kinds of foolish and wild spec- 
ulation about this government mark. Some have made 
its letters spell the name of a certain pope of the 
Roman Church. At the present time others are using 
it for war purposes and making its letters stand for 
the German Kaiser. Such nonsense only shows the 
poetical genius of man, and not his profound Bible 
knowledge. No doubt Rastus can easily and readily 
find in these same famous letters " opossum and sweet 
potatoes." Who's next? 

At the beginning of this kingdom with its unchange- 
able laws the twelve hundred and sixty days of the so- 
journ of the church in Edom will have expired. God's 
people will have returned from that wilderness at the 
fall of the two prophets of God, who will be killed as 
the last act of the kingdom of the ten kings under 
" they of the people " just three days and a half before 
that kingdom falls. Thus, when the kingdom of the 

265 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

ten kings falls, the church has been on her journey to 
Jerusalem from the wilderness at least three days and 
a half, and this fearful kingdom with the two horns 
arises — all about the same time. We thus find the 
woman in the scenes of earth and on her way to Jeru- 
salem a few days before the beginning of this destruc- 
tive reign of Media and Persia. Isaiah says of the 
church in the wilderness : "And the ransomed of Jeho- 
vah shall return, and come with singing unto Zion." 
(Isa. 35: 10.) This is the return of God's people 
after escaping the kingdom of the ten kings and their 
preservation and redemption in the wilderness of 
Edom as they go to Zion — to Jerusalem — where Christ 
will meet them. At this very time, at the rise of the 
kingdom with the two horns, John says : " I saw, and 
behold, the Lamb [Christ] standing on the mount Zion, 
and with him a hundred and forty and four thousand, 
having his name, and the name of his Father, written 
on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, 
as the voice of many waters [many people], and as 
the voice of a great thunder : and the voice which I 
heard was as the voice of harpers harping with their 
harps : and they sing as it were a new song before the 
throne, and before the four living creatures and the 
elders." (Rev. 14: 1-3.) We have translated and 
put in brackets the only figurative words in this 
scripture. These are plainly stated future historic 
facts and mean just what is said. 



266 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 



CHAPTER XX. 



The Last Cycle of the Kingdom or Form of Gov- 
ernment Introduced by the Grecian Empire, and 
Which God Calls ** Grecia " and Shows to Be on 
Earth at the Coming of Christ. 



The last cycle of these four forms of government 
is as follows : 

The first is " Babylon the Great," under seven 
kings, who are dominated by a federation of Christen- 
dom churches. 

The second is popular sovereignty, or democracy, 
which was the fourth to come on the earth. It will 
be the second to have a universal reign, which is yet 
to be. It will be organized and brought out of a state 
of anarchy by the ten captain generals and be deliv- 
ered to " they of the people." It exists under a uni- 
versal reign forty-two months, or three years and a 
half. 

The third to have a universal reign is Media and 
Persia, which was second to come on the earth. This 
kingdom sweeps away the last vestige of Christen- 
dom and sets up the abomination of desolation fore- 
told by Daniel, referred to by Christ, and fully re- 
vealed by the apostle John. 

The fourth is Grecia, which was the third kingdom 
267 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

to come on the earth, and it will be the fourth and last 
earthly kingdom to have a universal reign. It will be 
here at the coming of Christ and be destroyed at his 
coming. We will now show its history as given in the 
past and future by Daniel. John does not show its 
history, except in a general way. 

"And as I was considering, behold, a he-goat came 
from the west over the face of the whole earth, and 
touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable 
horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had 
the two horns, which I saw standing before the river, 
and ran upon him in the fury of his power. And I 
saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved 
with anger against him, and smote the ram, and brake 
his two horns ; and there was no power in the ram to 
stand before him ; but he cast him down to the ground, 
and trampled upon him; and there was none that 
could deliver the ram out of his hand. And the he- 
goat magnified himself exceedingly : and when he was 
strong, the great horn was broken; and instead of it 
there came up four notable horns toward the four 
winds of heaven." (Dan. 8: 5-8.) 

There is no doubt that this history as here given by 
Daniel covers the first reign of the third beast as it 
existed under the Grecian empire before the Christian 
era. 

" The rough he-goat is the king of Greece : and the 
great horn that is between his eyes is the first king." 
(Dan. 8:21.) 

Here we have a he-goat which is called " the king 
of Greece," and between that goat's eyes is the same 
king, the first king, represented by a horn. The four 

268 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

kingdoms of earth came on the earth in the person of 
the four kings who invented them and set them up 
among men, and thus the four kings were sole mon- 
archs. The four kings each possessed the legislative, 
the judicial, and the executive powers of the kingdoms 
they established, and in this sense they were the king- 
doms. Take, for instance, Alexander the Great. If he 
was the inventor of the form of government God calls 
" Grecia," then when that form of government came 
on the earth, it came in his person, in his mind, and he 
himself completely controlled it as legislator, judge, 
and executor; and thus he was, in fact, the kingdom. 
He was also ruler of the people, and was, therefore, 
the first king, as well as captain general, or great horn. 

In this sense, and in this sense alone, could it be 
true that a man could be represented by a goat and 
at the same time be a horn between the same goat's 
eyes. He personifies the form of government, and is 
thus the kingdom ; he rules the people and makes war 
for them, and is thus at that time the horn of the 
kingdom. 

"And as for that which was broken, in the place 
whereof four stood up, four kingdoms shall stand up 
out of the nation, but not with his power." (Dan. 
8:22.) 

When Alexander the Great fell, the Grecian empire 
was divided into four local kingdoms — that is, the 
local kingdom and people over which he ruled was, 
at the death of the ruler, divided into four local do- 
minions, ruled over by four different men, or sole 
monarchs. This is just what history tells us was true 
of Alexander the Great and his successors, and these 

269 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

events took place over twenty centuries ago, at the 
rise of Grecia ; yet the next sentence deals with the fu- 
ture to the present day, and thus this vision of "the 
morning and the evening " embraces some events which 
appear to have been and others which will be enacted 
by the same kingdom, or form of government, at peri- 
ods which are many centuries apart. 

The following sentence talks about events which 
have never yet been enacted, but which will transpire 
in the last cycle, or at the latter time of the dominion 
of the Grecian form of government: "And in the lat- 
ter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are 
come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and un- 
derstanding dark sentences, shall stand up." (Dan. 
8:23.) 

While Daniel lived he was one man, if not the only 
man on earth, who could read dark sentences. When 
the writing on the wall was seen by Belshazzar, he 
sought one who could " read dark sentences." 

" There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the 
spirit of the holy gods ; . . . forasmuch as an ex- 
cellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, in- 
terpreting of dreams, and showing of dark sentences, 
and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same 
Daniel. . . . Now let Daniel be called, and he 
will show the interpretation." (Dan. 5: 11, 12.) 

Daniel read the dark sentences, " Mene, mene, tekel, 
upharsin ; " and he did so not by any wisdom that 
was in him any more than another, but the God of 
Daniel, the God of the Bible, revealed the dark sen- 
tences to him. So in like manner, in the latter cycle 
and time of the form of government which God named 

270 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

" Greece " before it ever existed, will " a king of fierce 
countenance, and understanding dark sentences," stand 
up. He will be able to read dark sentences like Dan- 
iel, and he will be, like Daniel, inspired by the God he 
worships; and thus he will have this power and wis- 
dom from another source than that of his own wisdom. 

"And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own 
power." (Dan. 8: 24.) 

If not by his own power, then by whose power does 
he read dark sentences and do these works? We can 
judge a tree by its fruits, and the works of this king 
show he was inspired and supernaturally endowed by 
Satan. 

"And he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall pros- 
per and do his pleasure; and he shall destroy the 
mighty ones and the holy people." (Dan. 8: 24.) 

"And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; 
and it cast down some of the host and of the stars 
to the ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he mag- 
nified himself even to the prince of the host, and by 
him the daily sacrifice [the daily worship of God's 
people] was taken away, and the place of his sanctu- 
ary was cast down. And an host was given him 
against the daily sacrifice [not burnt offering] by rea- 
son of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the 
ground; and it practiced, and prospered." (Dan. 8: 
10-12, A. V.) 

"And through his policy also he shall cause craft to 
prosper in his hand ; and he shall magnify himself in 
his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall 
also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he 
shall be broken without hand." (Dan. 8 ; 25, A. V.) 

271 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

The words " burnt offering " are supplied in the 
text in the American Revised Version, while the Au- 
thorized Version supplies the word " sacrifice," and 
the latter comes nearer the truth ; for this king has 
never yet lived, but he is yet to live, and will live at 
a time when God's people, like they at the present 
time, will not be offering " continual burnt offerings " 
(A. R. V.) to God. This was embraced in the law of 
Moses, and it will have ceased as an acceptable offering 
to God by his people many centuries before this man 
lives. He could not, therefore, take away an offering 
which has passed away and will have ceased to be 
offered to and accepted by God many centuries before 
he lived. There is a thing that is " continual " in the 
kingdom of the Lord in Christendom to-day, and it 
will be " continual " and never cease while God's peo- 
ple dwell in the lands of Christendom where this event 
transpires. It is the daily prayers and worship and 
fellowship of saints. These are the things that are 
" continual " and that will be " continual " and be 
offered daily and weekly and yearly to God. They 
will continue in the dominion of this king until they 
are taken away by him, and then they will continue 
in the wilderness and the promised land until the last 
vestige of human dominion among men shall be swept 
from earth — until this king, about the last of human 
kings, shall stand up against the " Prince of princes " 
and be broken without hands ; until this king shall 
meet Christ, the " Prince of princes," the " King of 
kings, and Lord of lords," and shall be broken (de- 
stroyed, or killed) without^ hands (without human or 
divine law). He will be killed without hands, like the 

272 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

church was " cut out of a mountain " (the Jewish na- 
tion) without hands, which was a miraculous process. 
He will be broken, or killed, by a miracle. He has 
never lived and performed the wonderful works 
which God tells us he will ; he has never lived and died 
a miraculous death from miraculous means. No king 
of the earth, in any age of the world, has performed 
such miracles as will be performed by this man. No 
king of the past has ever stood up against the Christ, 
" the Prince of princes," the " King of kings, and 
Lord of lords." No king of the kingdom introduced 
by the first king of Grecia has ever met death from 
miraculous means, or been broken without hands. 
The stone was cut out of the mountain without hands ; 
the church was created, like every other creation of 
God, by miraculous means, and not by existing or es- 
tablished law, which is, figuratively, "hands.'' 

This king will fall the same way. There is no doubt 
that he is the eleventh horn of the beast with the ten 
horns. We cannot but infer this from the fact that 
when the kingdom of the ten kings was established, 
under the dominion of " they of the people," there was 
another horn which came up among the ten, and he 
was miraculously endowed, as much so as a horn on a 
beast would be supernaturally endowed if it pos- 
sessed " eyes like a man and a mouth speaking great 
things." 

From the face of this kingdom in which this man 
ruled the woman flees to the wilderness, and leaves 
behind her in the lands of Babylon two of her seed, 
two prophets. They, in turn, at the end of their al- 
lotted days of prophecy, near the end of the kingdom, 
18 273 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

are killed by this kingdom, which is controlled by the 
little horn with eyes like a man. What will this lit- 
tle horn do ? He will drive the " woman " into the wil- 
derness of Edom and kill the last of her seed in the 
lands of fallen Babylon, which means this : "And by 
him the daily sacrifice [the daily offerings of saints 
in the land of Christendom, or Babylon] was taken 
away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down." 
(Dan. 8: 11, A. V.) 

This is the history of the fallen lands of Babylon 
(occupied by Grecia), and it is identical with the work 
of the kingdom of the ten kings headed by the elev- 
enth horn. We know this is true from the fact that 
these two latter reigns of both kingdoms were uni- 
versal. None can deliver out of the he-goat's hands, 
and he prospers and does whatsoever he chooses to do. 
Now in the latter time of this form of government, 
called " Grecia," this miraculously endowed horn on 
this kingdom, who can read dark sentences and cause 
craft to prosper in his own hands, who " cast down the 
stars of heaven and stamped upon them " — ^he will 
have driven out and killed every Christian in his broad 
domain. This will have been done under the kingdom 
of the ten kings. When this is accomplished, the sanc- 
tuary of the Lord in the lands of fallen Babylon will 
be cast down ; for there will be no temple of God, no 
dwelling place for him in Christendom. 

What is the " sanctuary? " Speaking of the return 
of fleshly Israel to the land of promise from Egypt, 
God says : " Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them 
in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O 
Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in 

274 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have estab- 
hshed." (Ex. 15: 17, A. V.) 

"And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may 
dwell among them. According to all that I show 
thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pat- 
tern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye 
make it." (Ex. 25 : 8, 9, A. V.) 

These scriptures show that the sanctuary is the 
dwelling place of the Lord among men. Under the 
law of Moses he visited his people to bless them, and 
in doing so he entered tabernacles and temples made 
of material things, which symbolized his spiritual tem- 
ple, his church. 

The human heart is now sanctified by a natural 
process, by the word of God. The seed of the king- 
dom, the word of God, now produces in the heart of 
men the Spirit of Christ. 

"And by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, 
and the place of his sanctuary was cast down." There 
is not a figurative word in this expression. The daily 
sacrifice will be taken away and the sanctuary cast 
down in Christendom when God's people are driven 
from Christendom to the wilderness and when his 
two prophets shall lie dead in the street of the spirit- 
ual city of Sodom and Egypt. This will be done by 
the eleventh horn of the kingdom of the ten kings. 
When we realize that this same man was to prosper 
in the practice of craft and that he was to be supernat- 
urally endowed, so much so that he could read " dark 
sentences " like Daniel, and that he " waxed great, even 
to the host of heaven," and " cast down some of the 
host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped 

275 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

Upon them," and that he stood up against Christ, the 
" Prince of princes," and was broken without hands, 
we cannot for one moment beheve this man has ever 
yet Hved — in fact, we know he never has, if the word 
of God is true; but we believe he will yet live and 
fulfill these words of God. 

The word " host " refers here to angels of heaven, 
or the inhabitants thereof, and this king casts down 
these to the ground and stamps upon them. Men on 
earth and in the flesh are never said to be " some of 
the host of heaven," neither are they- any part of 
heaven. The host is cast out of heaven ; for " it waxed 
great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down 
[out of heaven] some of the host and of the stars to 
the ground, and stamped upon them." 

It is evident that the " host " and " stars " referred 
to here and cast down from heaven by this most ex- 
traordinarily endowed man are some of the great 
instructors and godly men who have lived in the past 
ages and others who will live in the future, for Dan- 
iel tells us that this class of men after they are resur- 
rected will be hke " stars." They are resurrected amid 
these scenes. He says : **And many of them that sleep 
in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to ever- 
lasting life, and some to shame and everlasting con- 
tempt. And they that are wise shall shine as the 
brightness of the firmament ; and they that turn many 
to righteousness as the stars forever and ever." 
(Dan. 12: 2, 3.) Here Daniel tells us that after res- 
urrection they that are wise shall shine as the firma- 
ment, but those that turn many to righteousness as 
the stars. After men are awakened from the dust of 

276 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

the earth, certain of them will be like stars in a bright 
and shining firmament of resurrected men. Men in the 
flesh are also denominated " stars " by God, but he says 
that some of those who turn many to righteousness 
will, after they awake from the dust of the earth, be 
in a sense like stars — in other words, they will be as 
stars in the eternity beyond the grave amid the bright 
hosts of heaven. This is certainly a figurative word, 
and it means that a class of resurrected men, who will 
be figuratively as stars in this bright, celestial firma- 
ment, or host of resurrected men, will be cast down 
from heaven to the ground and stamped upon by this 
king of Satan with the fierce countenance. Also the 
woman *' clothed with the sun " had a crown of twelve 
stars. The twelve apostles delivered the greatest mes- 
sage of all the ages to man, and they have been the 
luminaries of the church since it rose on the earth, 
and they are to-day the most visible and distinct 
lights in the vast and shining firmament of noble hu- 
manity. They have been and are by their teaching the 
bright stars in a kingdom wherein all his messengers, 
his angels on earth, are called "stars" (Rev. 2), but 
not " stars of heaven." After resurrection the angels 
on earth, the people of God, who are faithful to his 
word and are denominated " stars " on earth by God 
may be such in heaven; and it appears that some of 
these angels are cast down from heaven by this king 
in the latter times of the kingdom introduced by and 
called " Grecia." 

When the time shall come, as foretold by God, that 
his people shall flee from the beautiful lands of gentle 
Christendom and his last prophet and saint in whom 

277 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

he will dwell at that time shall be killed, then will the 
daily sacrifice of his people be taken away in the ter- 
ritory of Grecia and his sanctuary be indeed and in 
truth cast down. This work is done by the kingdom 
of the ten kings who previously occupied that terri- 
tory ; yet Daniel tells us it is done by the man of fierce 
countenance, who understands " dark sentences," who 
stands up against the " Prince of princes," and who 
we here find on the goat of Grecia. This makes it 
very certain that this man will be chief in the king- 
dom of the ten kings when it exists, and at that time 
he will cast down the sanctuary and take away the 
daily worship of God's people. This same king of 
fierce countenance is first represented by the eleventh 
horn of that kingdom, which had eyes like a man 
and a mouth speaking great things. The kingdom of 
the ten kings will cast down the sanctuary and cause 
the people of God to cease to worship him in the 
dominion of that kingdom by causing them to flee 
from the territory of the kingdom. Yet Daniel says 
this extraordinary horn on the goat of Grecia will do 
this work. Therefore when he does this work he will 
be the chief horn in the kingdom of the ten kings, for 
this work will be done by that kingdom. This is as 
certain as it is that God's dwelling place, or temple, 
on earth has been and will be the sanctified hearts of 
his people. 

"And an host was given him against the daily sac- 
rifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the 
truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered." 
(Dan. 8: 12, A. V. ; see also 2 Thess. 2: 1-10.) 

The word " host " as used here means a great mul- 
278 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

titude of people who fall away, or reject the God of 
the Bible, and they will be given to this man ; they 
will be his followers and be with him in suppressing 
the worship of God, as we find it detailed by John; 
they will be arrayed against the daily sacrifice, not 
by coercion from the power of this man, but by reason 
of transgression. Here is the falling away of New 
Testament prophecy. (2 Thess. 2: 1-10.) It is to 
take place near the coming of Christ, as all the scrip- 
tures show. All the talk about the falling away in 
the past is the purest speculation, according to all the 
scriptures. "And it cast down the truth to the 
ground." As the chief spiritual horn, captain general, 
" false Christ " of the kingdom of the ten kings, he 
will suppress the Bible, drive the woman into the wil- 
derness, and kill the last seed of the church in Chris- 
tendom. This is surely casting down the truth to the 
ground, and it will be done by this man as ruler of the 
ten kings, for this kingdom will do this work. 

"Then I heard one saint speaking, and another 
saint said unto that certain saint which spake. How 
long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, 
and the transgression of desolation, to give both the 
sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? 
And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three 
hundred days ; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." 
(Dan. 8: 13, 14, A. V.) The "host" is the great 
number of God's people. The " sanctuary " is God's 
church, which is driven out of the territory oi the 
ten kings by martial force and thus trodden under 
foot. Therefore the first of the twenty-three hundred 
days will begin after the fall of " Babylon the Great " 

279 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

and at the rise of the kingdom of the ten kings. We 
know that this kingdom lasted forty-two months, or 
more than half of these days. (Rev. 13: 5.) The 
other two reigns are very brief, the last of which — 
Grecia — is shown here, to be existing at the coming of 
Christ. (Dan. 8:21-25.) 

John closes the history of the church and its union 
with Christ at the beginning of his thousand-years' 
reign on earth, which time Daniel calls the end of his 
twenty-three hundred days, which he shows ends at 
the coming of "the Prince of princes " (Dan. 8: 25), 
or, as John expresses it, at the coming of the " King 
of kings, and Lord of lords" (Rev. 19: 16). John 
embraces all these events — their beginning and end — 
in the expression, " shortly come to pass." There- 
fore we conclude that the events of the Apocalypse 
and these kingdoms foretold by Daniel will cover but 
little more than seven years and that they cover but 
little more than these twenty-three hundred days of 
Daniel. In addition to these twenty-three hundred 
days of Daniel, the Apocalypse includes the time em- 
braced in the spiritual wilderness. (Rev. 17, 18.) 

The " host " here spoken of is God's people ; and 
when they flee from the territory of the kingdom of 
the ten kings, then is the fall of the 'host and the be- 
ginning of the twenty-three hundred days. There is 
nothing more certain than that this kingdom with its ten 
kings, all living at one time under one and the same 
constitution, has never yet existed, and that, therefore, 
the beginning of the twenty-three hundred days has 

280 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

not yet begun. When we realize the great revolutions, 
the trials and tribulations, continuing through these 
twenty-three hundred days, which is nearly seven 
years, it appears a long time indeed for the reign of 
such trials and tribulations as are described in these 
prophecies. These few years bear such a burden of 
human sorrow and wretchedness, resulting from sud- 
den and sweeping revolutions, that God notes their 
duration, not by years, but by days and months. This 
horn of fierce countenance will exist first as the little 
horn on the kingdom of the ten kings, and he will 
exercise both the eyes and mouth of that kingdom. 
He will be the leader and chief horn on the goat of 
Grecia in its latter time. In the kingdom of the ten 
kings he casts down the sanctuary, and will take away 
the continual, the daily, worship of God in his broad 
domains, which cover the earth ; and then in the form 
of government introduced by Grecia his life is ended 
at the coming of Christ, or " the Prince of princes," 
by being " broken without hands." His life, like that 
of the ten kings, covers every day of the twenty-three 
hundred days. This is as certain as it is certain that 
a horn or a captain general is a man. 

Here we finish reading the history of the first and 
the latter time of these four great kingdoms, and they 
have at this time covered many centuries, and none 
of them have yet attained their full greatness or held 
a literal dominion so extensive as foretold by Daniel 
and John. Their universal dominion will, like the ful- 
fillment of all God's prophecies, be literal. A univer- 

281 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

sal dominion of a kingdom could never be literal while 
any other kingdom existed on the earth ; therefore 
these universal reigns of these four kingdoms, or 
forms of government, are in the future and will be 
international. 



282 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 



CHAPTER XXL 



Summary and Deducement from the History of 
the Four Kingdoms Which We Have Passed Over 
in This Volume. 

Here at the close of the history of these four great 
future universal kingdoms we wish to call attention to 
some practical lessons which we think should be duly- 
considered. Those who have read and fully compre- 
hended this history of these great future international 
kingdoms understand from the scriptures quoted that 
none of them fell except in attempts to suppress reli- 
gious liberty and while committing great persecutions. 
The first will pass away in a vain endeavor to enforce 
a universal religious creed in lieu of the Bible. The 
second falls after a brief reign of forty-two months, 
or three years and a half, in persecution of God's 
church, which it drives into the wilderness and later 
kills the last Christians in its territory, which will be 
God's two prophets. (Rev. 11: 7.) When the end 
of its brief reign of religious persecution is reached, 
as decreed by God, he will sweep it from the earth by 
his omnipotent power. (Rev. 11 : 12, 13.) 

The third kingdom fell after visiting upon all the 
world the fiercest and most appalling persecutions, 
which will desolate the whole earth by the execution 
of its immutable laws in support of the worship of a 

283 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

material image miraculously endowed. This kingdom, 
called "death," willbe cut short by God either by 
miracle or by his providence in law. It only covers a 
God-limited number of days, of which Christ says: 
"And except those days had been shortened, no flesh 
would have been saved." (Matt. 24: 22.) 

The last kingdom, as we have seen, -will be destroyed 
by Christ at his coming (Rev. 19: 11-21), when it will 
exist " in the fullness of transgression." The whole 
length of the time of these three latter universal 
reigns, as we have seen, covers only about seven years. 
This time is now predestinated and fixed by God. 

The years or centuries of the reign of the first uni- 
versal kingdom are not given in the Bible. It may be 
fifty, a hundred, five hundred, a thousand, or even 
many centuries more than a thousand years. But God 
has set the danger mark before the world, and he 
shows us that when religious liberty is attacked by this 
kingdom the reign of man and his dominion on earth 
will shortly terminate. During the universal reign of 
these four kingdoms not a war between nations is 
shown to exist. This is significant. The length of 
the time of the first is under no decree from God, 
but it appears to be left to man and the good behavior 
of the kingdom itself as to whether it shall exist for a 
short or a long time. It may last any length of time, 
from one year to many centuries; but the prophetic 
history of these four kingdoms teaches us that wars 
between nations cannot take place or be brought upon 
the world under a universal kingdom with a real, gen- 
uine federal head. Common sense tells us this is true. 
The first two of the universal reigns of the four great 

284 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

kingdoms described in the Bible and shown in this 
volume will be governed by powerful federal heads 
dominating the whole body. When this first universal 
kingdom falls, the world under its dominion will be 
at that time divided into seven provinces, with each 
using its own form of government without restric- 
tions by the federal government, except to such extent 
as shall be granted and bestowed upon said government 
by its constitution. A kingdom of this character, with 
the length of its existence unlimited by God, guarded 
and protected by its constitution from fanatical religious 
domination, might — and, we think, would — ^l<:eep the 
world in peace and do away with wars for centuries. 
Surely the world under such a kingdom would be 
without wars until the religious wars depicted in the 
scenes we have read come on the earth, which are 
predestined to take place shortly before the coming of 
Christ. The fulfillment of this last work and destiny 
will require a great triumph of infidelity among the 
denominations. 

There has been much said and much written about a 
time hoped for when some means would be devised 
by which wars would cease and peace would reign on 
the earth without intermission from century to cen- 
tury. It appears to the author that these scriptures 
suggest a means which can cause wars to cease and 
which would do so. 

The Bible makes no definite suggestions along this 
line, except it shows the future experience of these 
international governments existing without interna- 
tional wars. 

The existence of these international kingdoms shows 
285 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

us that the world can and will be brought under inter- 
national federal governments, each with a dominion 
embracing every continent and island, every nation, 
tribe, and tongue of earth. This would be no experi- 
ment, for God shows it can and will be done. We 
do not believe it is possible, however, while an auto- 
cratic or a strong imperial government holds the reigns 
of dominion on the earth. We do not mean that all 
kingdoms must become republics and all kings be de- 
throned, but we do believe all kings must recognize the 
fact, and it must become a fact, that they all hold their 
dominions, like quite a number do at this time, sub- 
ject to and by the choice and will of the people. Such 
a condition and such a preparation of the world as 
will be needed must be brought about by the humil- 
iation and the subduing of the imperial and autocratic 
mind, so that they can look upon the world with the 
eyes of ordinary men and be passive at least while 
popular sovereignty seeks the peace of the world and 
the greatest good for the greatest number of mankind. 
The crimson tribulations, the shocking cruelties and 
devastations of wars leave the minds of men in a 
more receptive mood for peace. It makes them long 
for permanent and stable peace. Then we may look 
for extensive and devastating wars until such a king- 
dom comes on earth. There is nothing but a feder- 
ation of the kingdoms of earth that can ever fully ac- 
complish this great work. This can do so with cer- 
tainty. Wars will help prepare the hearts of men for 
a time when a great universal federal kingdom, after 
a few years of experience, will be able to remove the 
causes for and abolish wars. 

286 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

We can say from our faith in the prophecies we 
have investigated and recorded in this volume that the 
time will come, be it soon or be it late, when the king- 
doms of all the earth will, by the exercise of their 
greatest wisdom through an international council, pre- 
pare and present to the people of the earth an inter- 
national federal constitution, which will be accepted 
by them by a world-wide and popular vote. The 
sooner this can be done, the better for mankind. It 
will certainly provide for all the governmental organs 
and functions necessary to give it strength and power 
to control mankind from one end of the earth to the 
other. This means the transfer of great power to this 
international kingdom, but it will be necessary to gov- 
ern the world and bring an end to wars between na- 
tions. Such a government, to be able to bring perma- 
nent peace and abolish war, as we are shown by 
these prophecies, must own and control in fee simple 
a majority of the martial power, and armies and navies 
of all the world. It will be represented not only by 
a federal executive head, but it will have its legisla- 
tive and judicial departments, all backed and supported 
by a sufficient military power to enforce its laws and 
execute its judgments throughout the world. 

As long as the nations of earth exist under inde- 
pendent, separate kingdoms, the ambition for con- 
quest, for individual and personal aggrandizement, 
will lead them into the fiercest, the most devastating, 
destructive, and desolating wars. Wars for thousands 
of years have been the historian's theme of the human 
family, and they will grow fiercer and more destruc- 
tive as the natioils call to their aid the inventions of 

287 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

men. But these utilities for war will never frighten 
the war spirit in man. Wars can and should be elimi- 
nated and banished from the world. 

There is no experience in the past showing how 
such a kingdom can be organized and brought into 
active life and existence ; but we do know it will be 
done before the coming of Christ, and it devolves 
upon the wisdom of man to do so soon. We further 
believe that many of its fundamental laws and charac- 
teristics are clearly shown by the prophets who have 
foretold its coming on the earth. Daniel shows us, 
for instance, that if such a kingdom should be organ- 
ized at this time as he has described, it would hold 
within its constitution a plurality of forms of govern- 
ment ; and, therefore, each kingdom, with its territory 
and possessions, would come into the international con- 
stitution, with all its holdings, just as it stood outside 
of this union. If it should be a monarchial form of 
government before it enters the federation, it would 
remain such under that constitution; or if it should 
be a republic, it would remain a republic under the 
federal government until changed, if ever changed, by 
its own consent. The people would choose their own 
federal rulers, as it is done in all republics and as it 
is here foretold. This first universal kingdom is shown 
to have monarchies embraced within its constitution 
as well as republics, and it is of more importance to 
us and more practical in every respect. Such a king- 
dom, if once properly constitutionally equipped, would 
prevent any change in the form of any of its king- 
doms being brought about by war or violence. No 
king would fear being dethroned by civil war or any 

288 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

form of force ; but if done at all, it would be done by 
the decree of a civil court of equity in harmony with 
a federal law providing for such change after proper 
and impartial investigation before its judiciary. Un- 
der such a government a king would be as law-abiding 
as the humblest citizen. He could exercise all the le- 
gitimate prerogatives held under the federal govern- 
ment which were held by him before his kingdom came 
into the federation, if not legally changed by his own 
people. 

The universal kingdoms shown in the Bible undoubt- 
edly own the seas and rivers of the earth, because they 
own and control the martial powers of all the king- 
doms they control, which is all that exist on earth. 

Of course such a government would necessarily 
have to possess the limited constitutional right to col- 
lect a just revenue to be used in purchasing and main- 
taining military equipment, including the navy of the 
world, and all necessary government property, as well 
as for defraying its current expenses. 

The number of presidents or chief magistrates in 
this first universal kingdom described in the Bible is 
not given, but there are not many minor details of the 
constitution of this or any of these kingdoms shown. 
These are matters which will be supplied by the wis- 
dom of those inaugurating this government, and it can, 
no doubt, be wisely and correctly done. God talks 
about this kingdom as though it had already come, 
and his word fixes and predestinates it to come. When 
it does come, it will minister good to all the earth, if 
it is kept clear of religious fanatics. This is the great 
danger mark which God in his great mercy to man 

19 289 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

has pointed out to the world, and shows that by this 
cause it will pass from the earth amid the fiercest and 
bloodiest persecutions. 

The length of the life of this kingdom God has left 
to the human family, as far as the Bible shows; but 
he shows that the world will reject his counsel in the 
end and allow a great spiritual city, composed of the 
denominations of the earth after they become " names 
of blasphemy," to grasp the supreme power of the 
kingdom and wreck and ruin and finally completely 
undermine the happiness and peace of man on earth 
for a season. Man will, under the providence of God 
and by the enlightening powers of his word, bring 
upon the earth this mighty kingdom bearing the pos- 
sibilities of long years of liberty and peace to the 
world. While men follow God's guidance here, this 
colossal power for good or ill will be a minister from 
him to his people and the world for good, and it will 
bring to them many of the ripened fruits of " peace 
and good will among men." Under its reign knowl- 
edge and science will naturally rise to their full majesty 
and greatness. This minister of God for good to 
man will be brought upon the earth when the world is 
prepared to receive it. It will in its might and great 
dominion break down the citadel of war and chain 
international strife among men ; it will turn these for- 
tresses for destruction into gardens and fruitful fields 
to bless the world with their harvest. 

The " seed of men," which we found to be the word 
of God, has been mingled with the laws and consti- 
tutions of the four great kingdoms of earth for ages. 
It has been preparing and is now preparing all these 

290 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

kingdoms for a surrender of some of their power for 
the good and happiness of mankind, as foretold by 
God's prophet. (Dan. 2: 43.) This very element, 
as we have seen, has transmuted most of the heathen 
kingdoms of earth into a milder and less savage do- 
minion called " Christendom kingdoms." It is itself, 
according to scripture, traveling hand in hand and 
in fellowship with the spirit of democracy. It will 
do its God-predestined part in bringing the nations 
of earth under the protection and shield of a powerful 
and able minister of God for good to all mankind. 
This minister of God will come upon the earth bear- 
ing every nation and people and tongue within the 
metes and bounds of its constitution, and in its majesty 
and power it can be led to crush the " God of war," 
bury it beneath the throne of liberty, which should be 
built upon the golden foundations of " faith, hope, 
and love," the heavenly forerunners of divine peace. 

Whether the many kingdoms of the earth will soon 
be prepared to give up the chase and vain pursuit of 
happiness supposed to be found in the ambitions and 
conquest of war, we know not; but if not, then the 
time will come when a more enlightened, a more God- 
fearing, and a wiser generation will bring this very 
kingdom on the earth. 

When we once grasp the true and full meaning of 
these lessons of God's prophets, we cannot doubt but 
that this God-set star of light and hope for the world 
will continue to shine until this predestinated minister 
of God shall arise and deliver to man the joys and 
pleasures of permanent peace. 

291 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

The scenes and events of this history 
Later were written from twelve to seventeen 

Thoughts, years ago, and we have endeavored to test 
or prove its positions from time to time. 
Its publication has been deferred through these years 
because its statements and positions were out of ac- 
cord, as far as we have found, with the teachings of 
all theological schools and colleges, as well as ministers 
of the gospel, on these great and wonderful scrip- 
tures. This is still as true now as it has ever been. 
But at this time — June, 1917 — the great European war 
has been in progress nearly three years, and the con- 
clusions reached in this volume appear to fit in at 
this time with the war conditions of the world. The 
demand for means for a permanent peace indicate that 
this history contains more worth and usefulness to 
the reader than in the past, and we have been con- 
strained to publish it at this time. 

By the wise providence of God, may not this fierce 
and cruel war now raging in all its desolating power 
be the divine pilot to a long and durable peace for the 
world under the guidance of his prophets? May not 
the plan and terms of a world-wide peace pointed out 
by the God of the universe in these prophecies be 
offered by the allied powers of the great republics and 
the free, democratic and hmited monarchies of the 
world to the autocratic and imperial governments of 
Central Europe? If the positions of this volume are 
true and the contents of these prophecies become more 
fully known, might they not at this time appear to the 
wise statesmen, as well as all classes of lovers of peace 
and liberty, as a divine guidance coming dovv^n from 

292 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

God through the ages to give a reenergized valor and 
vigor to the spirit of liberty and cause the armies of 
the allied nations to carry God's terms and model for 
a lasting peace to the gates of Berlin and Vienna? 
On the other hand, might it not be that both the en- 
tente and central powers, from sheer exhaustion and 
ruin staring them in the face, would be glad to accept 
a sure and unmistakable harbinger of permanent and 
lasting peace? 

The multitudes of the people of earth have at no 
time during the last few centuries desired or sought 
war. It has been brought upon them universally by 
the ambition and desire for personal aggrandizement 
and love of power of a few rulers who have cared 
but little for the common people. The war in which 
we are now engaged was not sought by the people of 
this country; neither did the government at Wash- 
ington desire it. It was entered after our commerce 
was ruthlessly attacked and destroyed and after the 
conviction became almost universal that it was either 
to fight now in the general world melee or to fight 
later and alone when possibly the allied powers had 
been broken. Thus the entrance of the United States 
into this great war was to preserve her future integ- 
rity and peace. It isi a well-known fact that she en- 
dured much and stood upon a high plane of forbear- 
ance for many months rather than enter this fearful 
conflict. The intelligent and democratic nations of all 
the earth are by nature of the same mind. If it were 
left to a vote of the intelHgent people of Christendom 
to-day to say whether or not all the governments of 
earth should disarm and divest themselves of their 

293 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

navies and largely of their martial equipment and de- 
liver the same to a strong and just international federal 
government of their mutual and joint organization, un- 
der a righteous and just constitution, with all the neces- 
sary restraints, as well as with all the power necessary 
to bring universal and lasting peace to the world, who 
can doubt but what it would be confirmed by such a 
vote? 

The United States has never built a battleship or 
equipped a soldier except as a means of self-defense 
and as a warning to outsiders to leave us alone. The 
dread of future invasion or national insult and dis- 
honor has been the picture in the minds of our national 
government which has caused it to prepare and take 
active steps for its defense and preservation. This 
government belongs to the voters of this country, and 
it has, therefore, never spent a dollar on martial equip- 
ment except to be used in self-preservation and de- 
fensive warfare. Why would not the citizens of this 
country, as well as all other civilized countries, be 
glad to avoid the desolations and devastations of wars, 
as well as the enormous expense of continually increas- 
ing their navies and armies, if they could do so? And 
they can by a safe and strong federal union of their 
own formation, with its sole duty to keep interna- 
tional peace and equipped with all needed powers to 
meet such obligation. God has predestinated just such 
a government to come on the earth, with all these pow- 
ers necessary to accomplish this great work. It is as 
certain to exist some time in the future and fulfill this 
great destiny and purpose as it is certain that the Bible 

294 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

is true. Is the world prepared to accept it at this 
time? 

There is a cause which takes time to remove 
which will keep this very thing from being done now, 
if it is not done. That cause will be a lack of 
apprehension and education in the real truths con- 
tained in these prophecies. We say this with a belief 
that the power of the central imperial kingdoms will 
be broken and go down in the end of the conflict. 
God has ordained that all autocratic and imperial gov- 
ernments of earth must be humbled by the spirit and 
power of democracy. This end will be attained to a 
great extent in this present war or as the fruits of this 
war. We know this plan for peace, by the organization 
of an international federal government, is practicable 
and feasible, because God would never have shown it in 
actual life and existence, if it were an impossible and 
visionary conception. It is practicable, feasible, and 
will be done by the kingdoms of earth. It may take 
another greater, more cruel, and more devastating war 
or a lengthening of the cruelties and shocking condi- 
tions of the present war to awaken the nations of the 
earth to the fact that God, in his infinite wisdom and 
greatness, has decreed, predestinated, and appointed 
that the world shall use this very international king- 
dom, as we believe, as a minister from him for good 
to the world, and, therefore, for the peace, protection, 
and happiness of men as long as they do not forget 
him. Its advent would not be a fulfillment of proph- 
ecy. Its existence is shown, but not until near its end, 
when it becomes prophetic and when it will go down 
under a federation of churches. 

295 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

This kind of kingdom will come on the earth and 
solve the peace problem for a season. Every other 
suggestion for a permanent peace and the banishing of 
wars between nations that we have seen suggested 
must lead to this after due consideration. Any other 
means not leading to a federation of all the king- 
doms of earth, or by an attempt to put them into 
practice, will be found to be without the necessary 
vigor for the purpose. 

The symbols in the Bible mean something. They 
always bear a strong similitude or likeness to the 
things they represent or symbolize. God calls these 
four universal kingdoms " four beasts." He likens 
them to beasts to the very end of their existence. He 
does so because they have many things in common 
with ravenous beasts, and not because they have the 
spirit of Christ or can ever be brought to that high 
state of civilization. The one under consideration, the 
first international kingdom, he calls a " lion." (Dan. 
7 : 41.) He does so, not because it will be like a lamb, 
but because it has the ravenous instincts of the bel- 
ligerent and pugnacious king of beasts. Smite this royal 
beast on one cheek and see if he will turn the other 
to be smitten. A few Christian men — yea, many of 
them — will attain to a high enough standard of Chris- 
tian civilization and heart culture to not resent an of- 
fense or an act of injustice toward them, but the ma- 
jority of men never will be able to stand upon this high 
plane. From the Bible standpoint it is a dream, so 
we believe, to think that any large organized body of 
human beings, except God's church, will ever learn to 
endure what they conceive to be an insult or a wrong 

296 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

in meekness and humility and without promptly visit- 
ing wrath upon the offender. 

No king or ruler coming into such a federation with 
his kingdom would lose any honor or dignity which is or 
could be bestowed upon him while outside of such union. 
Not a nation of earth would be called upon to make 
any financial sacrifice to inaugurate and support such a 
superkingdom. Not only the unceasing, but the ex- 
panding, expense of building, equipping, and main- 
taining the navies of the world, with the standing 
armies, the coast and internal defenses, which are now 
used by nation against nation, will pay all this expense 
and leave a great surplus of wealth which would enrich 
the world and feed all its poor. 

It would be like the organization of a great world- 
wide stock company for the purpose of insuring the 
world against all international violence, injustice, and 
insult, with the payment made for the stock, in goods 
with far less value than counterfeit money. It would 
cost the nations nothing — not a sacrifice of honor, 
self-respect, or a cent of money. On the other hand, 
within the next century it would save rivers of blood, 
millions of lives, inconceivable wretchedness and des- 
olation, as well as untold wealth. It would be a de- 
veloper of science, a promulgator of knowledge, and a 
sower of the seeds of wisdom which would bloom and 
blossom and cover the earth with a new fragrance and 
freshness never yet known under the rule of man. 

The rulers of the kingdoms of the earth are called 
by inspiration the " ministers of God " to his people 
for good. (Rom. 13: 4.) The adoption of an inter- 
national federal government by the allied forces, if 

297 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

they should be successful in this great war, would 
mean a surrender of their own martial equipment to 
that government, as well as the delivery to that same 
kingdom the like equipment of all the world. Should 
not this be the terms of peace for all the great powers 
to accept? But the infinitely wise God of the Bible 
alone can move the hearts of men or pass upon and 
decree the destiny of the nations just as they should 
be. This universal kingdom, this possible minister of 
God for good to the world, is hovering over the battle 
fields of land and sea, ready to descend and soothe the 
passions and stop the flow of blood and the desola- 
tions of war maybe for many centuries. Will this un- 
paralleled war, with its cruelty, desolation, and death, 
speak loud enough for permanent peace to cause the 
nations of earth to come under the shield and accept 
the service of this able minister of the God of the Bi- 
ble? This minister of peace would ask the surrender 
of nothing, as we have seen, that is to-day bringing 
happiness or that can bring or ever has brought good 
to any of the human family. 

The author of this volume is not presuming upon 
any wisdom of his own, as the reader can see, or offer- 
ing his advice in the present great crisis of the world ; 
but he is pointing to the wisdom of God proclaimed 
by his prophets many centuries ago, and he is doing 
so with a firm and well-grounded faith that when the 
great nations of the earth hear and heed this sublime 
wisdom of the God of the universe, they will then be 
able to put off the red garments of war and be clothed 
in the white robes of sweet and lasting peace. 

From the fact that the God of the Bible has pointed 
298 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

to and shown a plan which can be used by man to bring 
a lasting and permanent peace to the world and has 
predestinated it to come on the earth in some future 
time, we do believe that this suggestion by the in- 
finitely great and wise Author of the Bible is richly 
and abundantly worthy of the patient and careful con- 
sideration of the greatest and purest philanthropist, as 
well as the most renowned and benevolent statesman, 
on the earth. They will do honor to themselves as well 
as to God by so doing. We feel that he who can be- 
come the humblest instrument in so great a work would 
be a blessing and be blessed among men. 



299 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



CHAPTER XXII. 



Is a Day in Prophecy a Year? 



If the reader has carefully read the preceding chap- 
ters, with the application of the scriptures therein ex- 
amined, we believe he will find some difficulty in ac- 
cepting the theory that a day in prophecy is a year. 
The word " day " in the scriptures we have investi- 
gated has only embraced " an evening and a morn- 
ing," which includes a night, and is defined by God 
and called a "day." (Gen. 1:5.) Yet we must ask 
the reader's indulgence while we briefly consider the 
apologies made by commentators generally for this 
doctrine. As far as we know, all the writers who 
have so used these prophecies have been honest, de- 
vout, and good men ; and many of them have prob- 
ably used the word " day " as though it were a year, 
from faith in some predecessor or from the popular 
idea that such is true, and not from thorough inves- 
tigation. 

Who has attempted to make it appear that the days 
of the burial of Christ were years, or that when 
Mark or Luke used the word " day " in prophecy it 
did not come under the same rule of interpretation 
that makes a day a year in the writings of John or 
Daniel? The reason, and the only reason, that they 
have not so appHed these prophetic days is from the 

300 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

fact that they are understood by all who read them 
to embrace twenty-four hours. 

We have seen in the preceding chapters that the 
twenty-three hundred days of Daniel, the twelve hun- 
dred and sixty days, the forty-two months, the ten 
days of John are yet to begin as well as end. Yet they 
have been treated by these writers as though they 
embrace a history of events in the past. Not one of 
these days has ever yet transpired, for the church has 
never yet fled to any prophetic wilderness, the ten 
kings have never yet lived, the little horn with eyes 
and a mouth has never yet suppressed the daily offer- 
ings of God's people or cast down the place of his 
sanctuary. No one can show these fulfilled in the 
past without stultifying the words describing them. 
When these events take place, they will come with such 
sudden and sweeping revolutions that their history 
will be as clear as the noonday sun for ages after 
they come to pass, if the world should continue as it 
is or has been. They will transpire, as we have seen, 
at the great harvest of the world, during the last brief 
period of events before the beginning of the millen- 
nium, and God has given them in days which will be 
covered by the lives of these ten kings. These days 
will end at the coming of Christ, at which time the 
ten horns will make war with him and will be over- 
come by him in battle. This war will be the end of 
the twenty-three hundred days of Daniel, and it will 
be a literal war. It will take place when the heavens 
shall open, when Christ, the " Lord of lords, and King 
of kings," shall come forth out of heaven riding upon 
the strength of righteousness, or the righteous power 

301 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

of God to carry his Son in battle, symbolized by a 
white horse, with the armies of heaven following him, 
carried by a similar power, to make war with the rul- 
ing beast, or kingdom, and the kings of the earth. 
John says of the ten kings : " These shall war against 
the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he 
is Lord of lords, and King of kings." (Rev. 17: 14.) 
"And the beast and the false prophet were taken, and 
the rest [including kings of the earth] were slain by 
him that sat on the white horse," who has written on 
his vesture and thigh : " Lord of lords, and King of 
kings." The " Lord of lords, and King of kings," 
was to overcome the ten kings, so John says, and he 
further says that the " Lord of lords, and King of 
kings," did this. John foretells this event in the sev- 
enteenth chapter; he shows its fulfillment in the nine- 
teenth chapter, which is unquestionably at the coming 
of Christ, at the beginning of the millennium. This 
is a real battle, and it is the only one given in the com- 
plete and perfect revelation of God in which the Lamb, 
the Christ, the " King of kings, and Lord of lords," 
is to take a personal part. Therefore, as the ten kings 
are to war with him who is designated by this name 
which he wears at that coming, they are of necessity 
in this, his only battle, and are here, as shown in the 
nineteenth chapter, overcome by him. 

"And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he 
cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly 
in midheaven. Come and be gathered together unto 
the great supper of God ; that ye may eat the flesh of 
kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty 
men, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit 

302 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

thereon, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, 
and small and great." (Rev. 19: 17, 18.) 

The commentator who can prove from the Bible 
that the foregoing phrases and words are figurative 
can show from the same book that the words 
** heaven " and " earth " are used in a figurative sense 
and never are literal. He who can show that the 
" flesh of kings," the " flesh of captains," the " flesh of 
mighty men," the " flesh of horses and of them that 
sit thereon," and the " flesh of all men, both free and 
bond, and small and great," are all figurative things, 
can easily show that no word in the Bible is ever used 
in a literal sense. Yet this very thing is sometimes 
attempted through the fascinations of the theory that 
a day in prophecy is a year. To leave these expres- 
sions as God has given them is destruction to this 
day-for-a-year theory, for every one knows this bat- 
tle has never taken place in the past, and it shows 
these ten men existing at the coming of Christ; it 
shows the twelve hundred and sixty days to be in the 
future. 

We will rest our faith in the literal fulfillment, at 
the time Christ comes, of all the things and events that 
enter into this war as given (Rev. 19) until some one 
shows the God-defined figurative meaning of all these 
things themselves, as well as shows us what the word 
" war " symbolizes when used by God figuratively, as 
it is sometimes said — and that, too, in connection with 
an event wherein men and horses are killed and their 
flesh is eaten by birds which fly in the air, or mid- 
heaven. This war is as certainly literal and real as 
God's word is true, and no one can prove or has proven 

303 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

it otherwise, and it is the only war in which Christ 
ever enters into physical conflict with the kings of 
earth. In this battle the ten kings whom God says 
are to war with him are " overcome." Thus, by the 
correct translation of the word " horn," we find ten 
men who are in the very first prophetic scenes of the 
Apocalypse (Rev. 12) remain and live on earth until 
the coming of Christ. They then meet him in this 
war, are " overcome " by him, just as God foretells 
they are to be. There are none who will deny that the 
coming of Christ to this battle is to transpire just at 
the beginning of the millennium, and the Book so 
teaches ; and, therefore, the lives of these ten men 
anchor the days of the sojourn of the church in the 
Vvalderness to literal days, and not years, for the ten 
kings are killed by Christ in this battle at his coming 
to begin his personal reign on earth for a thousand 
years. These men are matured and able to handle the 
armies of Christendom when the scenes in the book 
of Revelation begin, for we find them as horns (Rev. 
12: 3) first on the red dragon in Christendom. We 
there find them as captain generals of that kingdom 
attempting to devour the " man child of the woman " 
before she flees to the wilderness. They remain until 
the coming of Christ with the armies of heaven. Then 
and there they fall with their armies while in battle 
array against him, and their flesh is eaten by birds that 
fly in midheaven. This is just what the Book says 
about these ten men. 

With the clear and lifeHke history of these ten kings 
as given by both Daniel and John, we cannot fail to 
comprehend the fact that they are men whose histo- 

304 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

ries begin and end with the scenes of the Apocalypse. 
The time for doubting this will be when some one 
shows that the horn of a beast is not the sword of a 
beast or that a captain general of a kingdom has any 
other function than that of a sword of a kingdom. 

The beginning and succession of the events of the 
book of Revelation are given in the seals of that book, 
and these seals as presented can teach nothing but the 
succession of their events, for they show nothing and 
teach nothing so plain as succession by number. Each 
seal is the caption to a great history, and it points us 
to the leading characteristics of the history it stands 
for with such brevity that it is absolutely impossible 
to get their meaning and application before we read and 
understand the main features of the history to which 
they point. The seals of this revelation, as far as w^ 
have been able to read, are not given to bring con- 
fusion ; but they come in perfect succession and follow 
each other in just the order of their great events; and, 
therefore, the first event in the book of Revelation is 
the man child, the strength of the church, going forth 
to battle, as placed in the first seal. We do not be- 
lieve a single event can be found in that book which 
precedes the scene of the woman " clothed with the 
sun," standing in the presence of the red dragon, the 
beast of the book of Revelation, which has ten horns, 
or captain generals. We feel reasonably sure that the 
twelfth chapter gives the first event to be fulfilled as 
given in the Apocalypse. And these men, God tells us, 
are to war with Christ ; and he actually shows them 
overcome by him in the only battle ever to be fought 
by him against the kings of the earth. He places that 
20 305 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

event at the coming of Christ to begin his reign on 
earth. There can be no doubt whatever that the ten 
kings will live through every event in the entire rev- 
elation up to the coming of Christ. (See Rev. 19.) 

As we have seen, a horse is the symbol of support 
to a rider in war, and white is the symbol of right- 
eousness. Christ will come to earth borne on the omnip- 
otent and all-conquering power of righteousness, and 
he will come with the multitudes of heaven, who will 
be borne on the same kind of power to meet the kings 
and armies of earth for their destruction ; and we can- 
not comprehend why any one, for the sake of a the- 
ory, would attempt to transmute this war into a 
myth, or unreal event. This will be the last of earthly 
kings and kingdoms for a thousand years, and the ten 
kings and all the armies and mighty men of earth will 
go down in this battle with the suddenness of a light- 
ning stroke. They will be broken " without hands," 
and their dead bodies will remain unburied to be 
eaten by the fowls of the air. 

This theory of a year being symbolized by a day in 
prophecy will live in the minds of men until they 
learn the meaning and application of these revela- 
tions, and no longer. Such a theory can never live 
in the mind of any man who has the smallest under- 
standing of the time and duration of these events. 
Let the reader seek out the chronology of these events 
and learn the truth for himself. 

"After the number of the days in which ye spi^d 
out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, 
shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye 
shall know my alienation." (Num. 14: 34.) 

306 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

The reader who is not versed on the standard proofs, 
that a " day " when used in prophecy symboHzes a 
"year," will, no doubt, be astonished when he learns 
that this scripture is one of the chief corner stones 
upon which this doctrine rests. We are told that God 
here, by these so-called " prophetic days," undertakes 
to teach his people that a day given in prophecy stands 
for a year. This scripture is earnestly cited as an 
undeniable example of a prophetic day standing for a 
year, while in truth and in fact those forty days were 
not prophetic days at all. These days had transpired 
before God made this statement. 

As the spies of Israel had spent forty days in spy- 
ing out the land of Canaan and bringing back an evil 
report which caused unbelief in God's promise, there- 
fore he declares that Israel shall wander in the wil- 
derness a like number of years — forty years — for 
their unbelief. In this case each day stood for " an 
evening and a morning," and each year stood for 
twelve months ; and the number of the days of a past 
event was here used by God to impress and empha- 
size the number of years of the future sojourn in the 
wilderness. Here days were a period of twenty-four 
hours each and covered the events of days, and the 
years stand for years and cover other events ; and 
there is not the remotest idea contained in this expres- 
sion to teach us that when God uses the word " day " 
in connection with future events the word " day " rep- 
resents a year. These days had their events ; these 
years had their events. The number of the years was 
emphasized by the use of a number of days which was 
well known to all Israel. 

307 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

If God attempted to teach the children 
Ignorance, of Israel by this illustration or by here 
Joshua's numbering the years of a future event 

by the days of a past event, that when 
he used the word " day " in connection with a proph- 
ecy or future event he meant a year, he certainly made 
a flat and complete failure. The words convey no 
such idea ; neither did Joshua himself, one of the 
spies, so understand this lesson. God certainly failed 
to impress Joshua with the truth which it is said he 
intended to teach here, and not only him, but every 
other inspired man from that day to this. No inspired 
man ever intimated that he so understood this word 
when used either in or out of prophecy. Joshua never 
believed for a moment that when the Lord used the 
word " day " in connection with prophetic events he 
really meant a year, as this scripture is said to teach ; 
for he marched around the walls of Jericho seven days 
in succession, just as the Lord (Jehovah) directed, and 
not seven successive years, as this theory tells us the 
Lord really meant. Joshua understood God's decla- 
ration that as he and the other spies had spent forty 
days in searching the land and had brought back an 
untrue report, Israel should wander in the wilderness 
a like number of years — " each year for a day." Yet, 
with his perfect understanding of this word of God, 
he never understood a day, w^hen used in prophecy, 
or in foretelling events, or the end of future events, 
to symbolize, or stand for, a year ; for when God told 
him that after the people of Israel had marched round 
the walls of Jericho seven times on the seventh day the 
walls of that city would fall, he believed God. He 

308 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

believed that God's word, just as it was spoken, 
would prove true ; and thus by his faith in the plain 
statement of God he performed this work in seven 
days, and not seven years. 

We are impressed with the notion that Joshua was 
no speculator or theorizer, and that this day-for-a-year 
theory would have made no impression on his mind, 
even if it had had an existence in his day, which it did 
not. He certainly showed a willingness to trust in the 
true and literal meaning of the word of God ; and he 
thus, by his action, shows us what he thought the Lord 
meant by the word " day," even after God had said 
to him and all Israel : " Each day for a year shall ye 
wander in the wilderness." Thus we see one of the 
main pillars under this theoretical temple of nonsense 
was rejected by the inspiration of God in the act of 
Joshua. Joshua had at that time received from God 
some of the inspired gifts and honors of Moses. (See 
Deut. 34: 9.) The comparison or numbering of the 
years of this or any other event by the days of an- 
other event was never used by God, or any man not a 
victim of this theory, as proof that a day is a year 
or that it at any time covers twelve of our calendar 
months. Such an act is not found in the Bible. It 
is never necessary to use this doctrine except in ap- 
plying future events to past history. 

" Moreover lie thou upon thy left side, and lay the 
iniquity of the house of Israel upon it ; according to 
the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it, 
thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have appointed 
the years of their iniquity to be unto thee a number 
of days, even three hundred and ninety days : so shalt 

309 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And 
again, when thou hast accomplished these, thou shalt 
lie on thy right side, and shalt bear the iniquity of the 
house of Judah : forty days, each day for a year, have 
I appointed it unto thee." (Ezek. 4: 4-6.) 

In the fourth and fifth verses quoted above we are 
plainly told that the years of the iniquity of Israel 
shall be days in this demonstration by Ezekiel. The 
years are to be unto Ezekiel a number of days. Then 
in the sixth verse we are as plainly told that the forty 
days shall be years unto Ezekiel. In the first the years 
are days, and in the second the days are years. From 
these statements it is just as easy to establish a theory 
that years are days in prophecy as it is to support 
the theory that days are years. Each expression nul- 
lifies the other as to any alleged teaching about a day 
in prophecy standing for a year, as well as that years 
stand for days. Both are nullified. These require- 
ments given in these expressions were special and arbi- 
trary, without any general application with God, and 
by the way they are constructed it is clear that no 
such lesson was taught or intended to be taught. It 
is curious that any one would ever select this scripture 
to prove that a day in prophecy stands for a year, 
when the same scripture shows just as plainly that a 
year in prophecy stands for a day. The applications 
of both these scriptures are clearly special and are not 
applicable to any one, except the Jewish people in 
the one instance and Ezekiel in the other. They are 
as special and specific in application as the command 
of Christ to his apostles to tarry in Jerusalem until 
they be endued with power from on high was special. 

310 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

The words " days " or " years '* are not symbolic or 
figurative; they are absolutely literal; they are with- 
out a shade of a figurative character. They are 
used in both instances to emphasize and illustrate 
the years, specified, and not as symbols of years in 
general, either in or out of prophecy. None of us 
can show a single reason to doubt this construction. 

The word " Ezekiel " is the name of a man. The 
word " woman " is the name of God's people. The 
man of God, " Ezekiel," lies on his side a certain 
length of time, which God says is so many days. The 
" woman," the people of God, sojourns in a wilder- 
ness a certain length of time, which God says is a cer- 
tain number of days. The days of Ezekiel were literal 
days, so God says. He shows the same is true of the 
days of the woman of the book of Revelation. The 
only way to show a parallel with this theory would 
be to exercise the powers of invention and show that 
the " woman " of the twelfth chapter of Revelation is 
a real woman, with a real history, like Ezekiel, and 
not the church figuratively called a "woman;" then 
show that this real woman flees to a certain wilderness 
and remains there twelve hundred and sixty days, 
like Ezekiel's days, and that the sojourn of this real 
woman was like the acts of Ezekiel — a number of 
days' sojourn to represent twelve hundred and sixty 
years the church of God is said to be, or has been, in 
a spiritual wilderness, or state of anarchy, or in a lit- 
eral wilderness. This would show a parallel. The 
trouble with this is that none of these statements are 
found in the history. To carry out the parallel, we 
must run blindly and recklessly over th^ word of God 

311 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

by taking the time — twelve hundred and sixty days — 
appointed by God for his church in the wilderness 
and give these days to a real woman which has no 
existence in the Bible history. Besides this, we must 
put the real church of God in a spiritual wilderness, 
as it is claimed, and add twelve hundred and sixty 
years to the time given in the Book. Thus, to carry 
out this theory and apply it to the church, we must not 
only invent a real woman and a spiritual wilderness, 
but we must deliberately and knowingly add twelve 
hundred and sixty years to this plainly stated time 
as given by the God of the Bible. They are no more 
alike than truth is like falsehood. 

The following is a real past event 
Seventy Weeks and has a well-known history ; and 
of Daniel. if there is such a thing as a day 

symbolizing twelve months, it 
ought to be clearly shown here : " Seventy weeks are 
decreed upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to 
finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and 
to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in 
everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and 
prophecy, and to anoint the most holy." (Dan. 9 : 24.) 
The decree of seventy weeks stood against the Jews 
and Jerusalem, and they were for the accomplish- 
ment of certain things enumerated here by Gabriel. 
Among the things to be accomplished was " to seal 
up vision and prophecy." There can be no doubt but 
that the prophecy and vision to be sealed, or finished, 
referred to here, was the one which caused Daniel to 
pray, and which was the prophecy and vision of Jere- 
miah. In the first year of the reign of Darius, Dan- 

312 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

iel says : " I, Daniel, understood by the books the 
number of the years whereof the word of Jehovah 
came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accompHshing 
of the desolations of Jerusalem, even seventy years." 
(Dan. 9: 2.) Here is the cause for the prayer of 
Daniel. He finds from the prophecy of Jeremiah that 
the desolations of Jerusalem were to last seventy years, 
and this knowledge caused him to approach God in 
hopeful humility and prayer ; and in answer to his 
prayer the messenger of God, Gabriel, appears and 
informs him, among other things, that seventy weeks 
are decreed against the people and " thy holy city " 
to seal, or complete and close, prophecy and vision. 
The prophecy and vision of the seventy years of the 
desolations of Jerusalem is the prophecy and vision, 
and the only prophecy and vision, mentioned or that 
entered into this transaction, and it is the very proph- 
ecy that Daniel was praying about. The prayer of 
Daniel came from reading the vision and prophecy by 
Jeremiah ; and in answer to that prayer, Gabriel ap- 
pears and informs him that seventy weeks are decreed 
to " seal," or finish, the prophecy and vision, which 
prophecy and vision was decreed to last seventy years, 
and which is to end in seventy weeks. Do the seven 
days in each of these seventy weeks in this connec- 
tion make sense? Do they convey the true idea or an 
incorrect idea? When Gabriel tells Daniel that sev- 
enty weeks will seal, or close, the vision and proph- 
ecy, is it necessary to treat these weeks as though they 
stood for years and make it mean that four hundred 
and ninety years are necessary to complete the vision 
and prophecy, when, in fact, the prophecy was only 

313 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

to embrace seventy years from its beginning? Where 
is the truth or common sense in such interpretation ? 

If Gabriel meant what he said, then Daniel under- 
stood that the seventy weeks would close, or seal, the 
seventy years; for this is just what he tells Daniel. 
This shows the weeks were weeks, and not seven years 
each. During these weeks the sins of the people are 
to cease and reconciliation for iniquity shall be made, 
and these weeks are to bring in everlasting righteous- 
ness and to seal up vision and prophecy (the proph- 
ecy that led Daniel to pray) and to anoint the most 
holy. The righteousness of God (everlasting right- 
eousness) shall be brought, in, or confirmed, in the 
seventy weeks. Everlasting righteousness belongs to 
God alone. David says : " His work is honor and 
majesty; and his righteousness endureth forever." 
(Ps. Ill: 3; see Ps. 112: 3.) God's righteousness 
alone is everlasting, for he alone is without end. The 
consummation of God's word is righteousness, for it 
is always given in justice and wisdom, which can 
with God only end in righteousness and truth; and 
in this case it will be brought in or established 
at the end of the seventy weeks, which fulfills 
the vision of seventy years, as God had foretold 
by his prophet, and thus predestinated that it should 
come to pass. The humility and hearty supplica- 
tion of the God-beloved Daniel moved the God of 
Daniel so much that he, in tenderness and pity, sent 
his angel, Gabriel, to Daniel to cause his heart-rending 
prayer, poured out in such contrition before his God, 
to be hushed and silenced and to explain to Daniel 
that his own honor and righteousness in his word, 

314 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

which had decreed the time of captivity to be seventy 
years, must be brought in, or redeemed, and that it 
would be sealed in seventy weeks. Daniel here learns 
when the seventy years terminate. 

It is certain from these statements that the seventy 
weeks finished, or sealed, the seventy years of captivity 
and fulfilled the everlasting righteousness of God in 
the accomplishment and redemption of his word. 

Daniel was praying to God to show his great mer- 
cies to his people by delivering them from captivity, 
and the words were so hearty and came in such humil- 
ity of mind, as well as power, that God has not only 
by his unfailing providence preserved the words of 
this prayer of his beloved servant for our good, but 
he also shows us how they moved him and caused him 
to send his angel to Daniel to silence his prayers for 
mercy and to explain to him that his righteousness, 
as well as his mercies, must continue forever by the 
establishment of his word in the fulfillment of this 
vision, which was the cause of his prayer. 

It took seventy weeks to bring in or complete the 
everlasting, the immutable righteousness of God in his 
decree of seventy years ; and this must be accomplished 
and at the same time seal up vision and prophecy. 
The angel tells Daniel the decree is immutable, the 
vision of seventy years must be accomplished, and at 
the same time " seal " up vision and prophecy. The 
angel further says : " Know therefore and discern, that 
from the going forth of the commandment to restore 
and to build Jerusalem unto the anointed one, the 
prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two 
weeks." (Dan. 9: 25.) "Therefore," on account of 

315 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

the fact that seventy weeks from the appearance of 
Gabriel to Daniel are necessary to complete the proph- 
ecy of seventy years, " know " " and discern " that 
from the same time to the going forth of the com- 
mandment to build and restore Jerusalem shall be 
seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. As the time to 
fulfill the seventy years requires seventy weeks, 
" therefore " the time from the appearance of Gabriel 
to the time the commandment goes forth to restore and 
rebuild Jerusalem shall be one week less — shall be 
sixty-nine weeks. This promise of this command- 
ment to go forth was literally fulfilled at the exact 
time. The appearance of the angel to Daniel was in 
the sixty-eighth year of the captivity ; and in harmony 
with this statement that in sixty-nine weeks, or in 
about a year and one-third, the commandment should 
go forth to build the city, so we find that some time 
in the second year thereafter, Cyrus, king of Persia, 
did command the city to be built (see Ezra 1 : 1, 2), 
and it was built unto the Prince, unto the coming of 
Christ. It was never again destroyed until after the 
crucifixion of Christ, as Gabriel here foretells. It 
was built, and it was, therefore, as this prophecy of the 
angel tells, built and remained built unto the coming 
of Christ. 

This is no false report of the angel Gabriel. He 
does not attempt to tell us that Christ will come in 
sixty-nine weeks from the time the commandment 
went forth to build the city unto his coming; but he 
tells us the anointed one, the Christ, will come some 
time after the expiration of these weeks. He says : 
"And after the threescore and two weeks shall the 

316 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

anointed one be cut off, and shall have nothing: and 
the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy 
the city and the sanctuary." (Dan. 9: 26.) After — 
not at the end of, but after — these weeks shall the 
anointed one be cut off, and the people of the prince 
that shall come shall destroy again the city and the 
sanctuary. The prince is to be cut off and the city 
destroyed after these weeks expire, but Gabriel does 
not say how long after that time it shall be. But if 
this theory of a day for a year is correct, and these 
events, which Gabriel says are to take place after the 
expiration of these weeks, were to take place imme- 
diately after the expiration, or at fhe end, of these 
weeks transmuted into years, as this theory says, then 
we would have Christ cut off and the city destroyed 
by Titus at the end of these sixty-two weeks, which 
would make both these events take place on the very 
same day. But Gabriel says they come to pass after 
the weeks are ended, which is exactly in harmony with 
the facts ; for Christ was crucified some four or five 
centuries after this vision of Jeremiah was sealed, 
and so was the city destroyed by Titus after these 
weeks ended, and it was some thirty odd years after 
the prince was cut off, after Christ was crucified. 
These statements are too clear to stand such mutilation 
as our theory of a day being a year in prophecy at- 
tempts to make of them. 

Nebuchadnezzar carried Jehoiakim, king of Israel, 
with his people, into captivity in the year six hundred 
and six B.C. (see Chron. 36: 6) ; and in the sixty- 
ninth year thereafter, some time in the year five hun- 
dred and thirty-eight (see Dan. 9), Daniel discovered 

317 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

from prophecy and vision by Jeremiah that seventy 
years were to be accomplished in the captivity in Baby- 
lon ; and he is thus by this prophecy and vision moved 
to pray to God about the matter, and in answer to his 
prayer Gabriel appears and informs him that seventy 
weeks are decreed to finish, or seal, this prophecy. 
Subtract the time (538 B.C.) when Gabriel appeared 
to Daniel from the year 606 B.C., which is the begin- 
ning of the captivity, and we find that Daniel discov- 
ered from the prophecy of Jeremiah that the captivity 
was to last seventy years, and he learned this some 
time during the sixty-ninth year after it began, or a 
few months, which Gabriel says is seventy weeks, be- 
fore the vision is sealed, or closed. When Gabriel 
appearel to Daniel, he informed him that seventy 
weeks would seal the vision, and thus complete the sev- 
enty years ; and he shows him things that must be 
done during and after the seventy weeks, as well as 
shows him that Christ will be cut off, or crucified, 
and the city destroyed again at some time after the 
end of these weeks. These are some of the contents 
of these scriptures, and they show us, beyond the 
shadow of a doubt, that the messenger of God, Ga- 
briel, understood a day in prophecy to mean twenty- 
four hours ; for he fixes the days of these seventy 
weeks to, and embraces them within, the sealing of 
the seventy years of prophecy and vision, and tells 
Daniel they seal, or complete, the prophecy. 

This theory is out of joint with^every truth in this, 
the ninth chapter of Daniel, as well as every other 
statement in the Bible. By its insinuating subtlety 
and flattering adjustments it is said that even some of 

318 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

the truly great and good men who have been reform- 
ers and have done much for mankind have thought 
that by its use the very day and year that their own 
theological light arose on the earth was clearly fore- 
told. Last, but not least, it is claimed that by the 
expert and fine adjustment of this loose- jointed inven- 
tion of men it is the next thing to no trouble at all to 
tell the very year Christ will come. This doctrine is 
a mental poison, a seed of delusion, and there is no 
remedy for it with the Christian but the word of God. 
God has never, by precept or example or by neces- 
sary inference, taught that a day stands for a year, 
either in prophecy or out of prophecy. The proof, or 
authority, for such a use of human language is not to 
be found in God's teaching to man. 



,319 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

The Seven Candlesticks Represent Seven Pro- 
phetic Churches. They Represent Seven Churches 
with Christ Standing in Their Midst. Such a Thing 
Has Never Transpired. 



"And having turned I saw seven golden candle- 
sticks ; and in the midst of the candlesticks one like 
unto a son of man, clothed with a garment down to the 
foot, and girt about at the breasts with a golden gir- 
dle." (Rev. 1: 12, 13.) 

This scripture shows that the angel of Christ who 
appeared to John in this vision was, of course, the sym- 
bol of Christ. He bore the bodily likeness which 
Christ will bear when the time shall come that he will 
stand on earth in the presence of seven churches, all 
gathered together like the seven candlesticks. Has 
Christ ever fulfilled this prophecy? Did he stand in 
the midst of the seven churches of Asia? We know 
he did not, and had not done so when the revelation 
was given ; for, as we have seen, the first verse in the 
book shows the Apocalypse is a revelation and was 
given to show " things which must shortly come to 
pass," and not things which had come to pass. There- 
fore we know Christ never at any time stood in the 
midst of these churches of Asia before the last verse 

320 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

in the Apocalypse was written, or this scene would 
not have been recorded. It would have been history 
and would not and could not have been called a " rev- 
elation," nor would it have had any part in a revela- 
tion. Some sixty years after the ascension of Christ 
this scene is enacted, and it represented an event to 
transpire after it was written. It being true that 
Christ had not stood in the midst of the seven churches 
of Asia when the revelation was given, we may well 
ask: Has this great event transpired since that time? 
Where is the proof that it has? How will we know 
when he comes again? How will he come? "And 
when he had said these things, as they were looking, 
he was taken up ; and a cloud received him out of 
their sight. And while they were looking steadfastly 
into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by 
them in white apparel ; who also said. Ye men of Gal- 
ilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, 
who was received up from you into heaven, shall so 
come in like manner as ye beheld him going into 
heaven." (Acts 1: 9-11.) Has this been fulfilled? 
Has Christ come to earth since that notable day when 
he ascended? Has he come on the clouds of heaven? 

Here is a prophecy foretelling his return and how 
he will return. To make the return of Christ unmis- 
takable and to show the magnitude of the event, the 
great notoriety it will bring when fulfilled, God has 
revealed this prophecy, like he has all his unfulfilled 
prophecy. Before we show the revelation of the ful- 
fillment of the return of Christ to earth, let us see what 
Christ himself says on this subject or a part of it. 

Christ advises his followers to accept the inventions 
21 321 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

and statements of no one about his coming, because 
it will be seen by all men. He says : " If therefore they 
shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the wilderness; 
go not forth: Behold, he is in the inner chambers; 
believe it not. For as the lightning cometh forth 
from the east, and is seen even unto the west ; so shall 
be the coming of the Son of man." (Matt. 24: 26, 
27.) 

John saw the ascension of Christ, and he elaborates 
and shows his coming. He says : "And I saw the heaven 
opened; and behold, a white horse ["white horse" 
means martial equipment of righteousness (see Isa. 1 : 
18; Rev. 6: 2-9)], and he that sat thereon was called 
Faithful and True ; and in righteousness he doth judge 
and make war. And his eyes are a flame of fire, and 
upon his head are many diadems : and he hath a name 
written which no one knoweth but he himself. And he 
is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood : and his 
name is called The Word of God. And the armies 
which are in heaven followed him." (Rev. 19: 11-14.) 

All these scriptures show the coming of Christ, and 
they are in perfect harmony as to the great publicity 
and notoriety of his coming. It will be an event in 
which the publicity, the glaring openness, and the 
magnitude of its transpiring will surpass all the events 
in the world's history in all the ages of the past. It 
will be in an age ablaze with the greatest miracle 
known to human or divine history. Christ tells us his 
coming will be in a miraculous age. He says : " For 
there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and 
shall show great signs and wonders ; so as to lead 
astray, if possible, even the elect." (Matt. 24: 24.) 

322 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

John, referring to these same false Christs, or one of 
them represented by a universal earthly kingdom, 
which he represents as a lamb, says: "And he doeth 
great signs, that he should even make fire to come 
down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight of 
men. And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth 
by reason of the signs which it was given him to do 
in the sight of the beast [or kingdom]." (Rev. 13: 
13, 14.) There is not a scripture in the Bible show- 
ing any coming of Christ which does not present it as 
a most public, a most notorious, open, and momen- 
tous event. Therefore we need not let any" one de- 
ceive and mislead us here, for both his comings, as 
shown in the Bible, will be known to all when these 
visits take place. He has never yet come, and the 
seven churches of Asia ceased to exist, and they be- 
came angels when the revelation was written. He 
has never stood in the midst of any seven churches 
at any time or place on this earth in the past, for he 
has never returned to earth since his ascension from 
the presence of his disciples some sixty years before 
this revelation was given, and John wrote no past 
events. 

When some theorist or speculator tells us Christ 
is in the secret chambers or has come to earth in any 
secret way unknown and unrevealed in God's word, 
Christ says : " Believe him not." When we are taught by 
an erroneous translation of the scriptures that Christ 
has at any time in the past stood in the midst of the 
seven churches of Asia, or has even promised to do 
so, we must believe it not ; for it contradicts every 
scripture in the whole Bible bearing upon the subject, 

323 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

as well as the experience of man and the history of 
the world for over eighteen centuries. No such event 
as Christ standing in the midst of the seven churches 
of Asia is known to human or divine history. Even 
the most visionary theological histories are silent as 
to such an event. There is not even a connected tra- 
dition claiming that this prophecy was fulfilled by 
Christ standing in the midst of the seven churches of 
Asia. The only apology or excuse for such an idea 
existing is found in an error by the translators of the 
latter part of the last verse in the first chapter of Rev- 
elation in the King James Version, or the Authorized 
Version. In the Authorized Version the reading is 
thus : "And the seven candlesticks are the seven 
churches." It should read, "And the seven candle- 
sticks are seven churches," with the adjective " the " 
left out. The English and the American Revised Ver- 
sions both leave out the adjective " the," and so does 
every other correct translation. If this were a cor- 
rect rendering, we would have the seven churches of 
Asia congregated together and Christ standing in the 
midst of them eighteen hundred years ago. This is 
not only not true, but it is absolutely impossible to 
believe in the presence of the declarations of Christ 
himself, as well as all inspired men who have spoken 
on this subject. To accept this idea is to reject all 
the teaching in both the Old and the New Testaments 
on this subject, for it brings Christ to earth in secret 
and unknown to any one. 

It is imperative to learn the facts on this important 
subject just as they are given here, so we may keep in 
harmony with all the prophecies along this line, as 

324 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

well as many other things taught in the New Testa- 
ment. With this object in view, let us see this theme 
in other lights and from other positions along the same 
line. 

After John turns and sees the angel of Christ stand- 
ing in the midst of seven candlesticks, as given in the 
first chapter, he is again admonished, " Write therefore 
the things which thou sawest," which things were the 
angel of Christ and the seven candlesticks and the seven 
stars, for these were the things which he had seen. 
"And the things which are." *' The things which are " 
were the things which existed at that time and which 
John tells about in the Book. John says he was in the 
isle of Patmos ; it was the Lord's day ; he was in the 
Spirit. The seven churches of Asia existed then. 
These are the things, therefore, " which are " — they 
existed then. These things — the things " which are " — 
cover the brief history of John himself, the place of 
his banishment, the day of the vision, and the fact 
that seven churches existed at that time and the places 
where they were located. It shows that God had 
seven churches on earth at that time, and only seven. 
We know of no others. There is no history of any 
other churches existing at that time; otherwise John 
did not write or mention all the other churches, all 
the things "that are," or that did exist at that time. 
This shows us the reason only seven churches are men- 
tioned. They had all passed away at that time. Every 
church of God had ceased to exist twenty years after 
the destruction of Jerusalem, except seven. These 
seven churches alone, twenty years after the destruc- 

325 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

tion of the nationality of the Jews, could be said to be 
among the things " that are." 

"And the things which shall come to pass hereafter." 
This expression, like the expression, " the things which 
thou sawest," covers every event in the book of Rev- 
elation, except the things which could be said at that 
time to be the things " which are," as well as the com- 
mands and instructions to John, with his salutation 
to the churches of Asia. 

When John saw the seven candlesticks and the seven 
stars without an explanation, they were an enacted 
prophecy, and, therefore, a mystery. When they were 
explained, the mystery disappears and they become 
a revelation. " The mystery of the seven stars 
which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven 
golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of 
the seven churches, [that is, the seven churches named 
above] : and the seven candlesticks are seven 
churches." (Rev. 1: 20.) The seven stars are the 
angels of the seven churches of Asia, and are, there- 
fore, messengers from the churches named to those 
who are to receive the messages they bear, including 
seven prophetic churches, in the midst of which Christ 
will yet stand. But the seven candlesticks are seven 
churches, and, with the adjective " the " left out, are 
not necessarily the seven churches named ; neither can 
we learn from this statement just what seven churches 
the seven candlesticks represent. We must learn this 
by finding seven churches with Christ literally stand- 
ing in their midst in fulfillment of, in likeness of, his 
symbolic angel standing amid seven golden candle- 
sticks. 

326 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

"And having turned I saw seven golden candle- 
sticks ; and in the midst of the candlesticks one like 
unto a son of man." (Rev. 1 : 12, 13.) This is a 
great prophetic, historic event — one which is here fore- 
told and noted by the same God and omnipotent Being 
who created man and the universe ; and when it tran- 
spires, the glory of God will be sung by the angels of 
heaven, uniting their voices with the voices of a mighty 
host of just and righteous men made perfect before 
the throne of God. We believe assuredly that Christ 
will, in truth and reality, stand in the midst of seven 
churches. When he does, every word of the descrip- 
tion of the personal appearance of his angel as given 
by John will be' seen by the people in whom will be 
fulfilled the symbols of the seven candlesticks. "And 
having turned I saw seven golden candlesticks ; and 
in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto a son of 
man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and 
girt about at the breasts with a golden girdle. And 
his head and his hair were white as white wool, 
white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 
and his feet like unto burnished brass, as if it had been 
refined in a furnace; and his voice as the voice of 
many waters." (Rev. 1 : 12-15.) Just why it is that we 
have been taught to guess or assume that this great 
event has transpired at some unknown time in the past, 
or is never to literally transpire, is as incomprehensible 
as the unwritten history of the millennium itself. If 
Christ was never to fulfill this promise by an actual 
visit and to be seen by the seven churches represented 
by the seven candlesticks, then for what was this de- 
scription of his person as shown by the person of his 

327 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

symbolic angel written ? Was it written to arouse the 
imagination of man? If he is to be invisible and his 
coming in secret, then there was no need of this 
description; for men could never verify this descrip- 
tion, as men cannot see an invisible person. If men 
were not to see the person of Christ at the time of the 
fulfillment of this event, then, as a matter of fact, 
there was and could have been no reason for this 
description. But there is a good reason for it, like 
all the acts of God ; and the record was made to show 
just how his person will appear when he stands in the 
midst of seven future churches prepared to fight the 
battles of his people. 

When Christ fulfills the symbolic scene of his angel 
standing in the midst of seven candlesticks by stand- 
ing in the midst of seven churches, as he will yet do, it 
will not be done in secret and unknown to any of his 
people or lost from the history of his people and the 
world ; but his person will be seen by them, and it will 
appear exactly like his angel showed it, and the event 
will be so luminous to his people and glorifying to the 
word of God and his infinite wisdom and power that 
its consummation will be celebrated by all the per- 
fected and glorified beings of God in heaven and on 
earth in a new song — a song sung by a host whose 
united voices will be heard on earth by the people of 
God, who were here symbolized by the seven golden 
candlesticks; and it will be like the sound of thunder 
or the voice of many multitudes of peoples and 
tongues. 

"And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on 
the mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty 

328 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

and four thousand, having his name, and the name of 
his Father, written on their foreheads. And I heard 
a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters 
[many peoples], and as the voice of a great thunder: 
and the voice which I heard was as the voice of harp- 
ers harping with their harps : and they sing as it were 
a new song before the throne, and before the four 
living creatures and the elders: and no man could 
learn the song save the hundred and forty and four 
thousand, even they that had been purchased out 
of the earth. . . . These were purchased from 
among men, to be the firstfruits unto God and unto 
the Lamb." (Rev. 14: 1-4.) 

The words " Lamb " and " waters " are the only 
figurative words used here which can aflfect our com- 
prehension; and when we locate this event and find 
its place among the scenes of the Apocalypse, we will 
be able to see that the preceding scriptures which we 
have read had a real object in being written by God, 
and that the event will completely fulfill the symbol of 
the angel of Christ standing in the midst of seven 
candlesticks. Here, for the first time since the ascent 
of Christ to heaven, for the first time since this rev- 
elation and prophetic promise was given, for the first 
time since the first church was born on earth, have 
we any history of Christ's standing in the midst of 
men in the flesh. He stands on Mount Zion amid his 
churches, for this scene is after they flee into the wil- 
derness, at the end of their allotted time of twelve 
hundred and sixty days, at the very time they return 
and come to Zion, as foretold by Isaiah and others of 
God's prophets. Christ by his symbolic angel stood 

329 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

in the midst of seven candlesticks, and thus he prom- 
ises to stand in the midst of seven churches ; and he 
here, for the first time in the history of earthly events 
after his ascension, stands in the midst of men in the 
flesh. There will be men in the flesh at Mount Zion 
at the time Christ stands on that once holy hill. 

"And no man could learn the song save the hun- 
dred and forty and four thousand." They were res- 
urrected, redeemed from the earth. They could learn 
the song-, but no other men could. Men in the flesh 
who heard could not learn the song. Who are they 
that could not learn this new song? Are God's people 
in Jerusalem at the time of this event? They will be. 
Here is the proof. The kingdom of the ten kings 
lasted forty-two months. A few days before that 
kingdom falls the time of the sojourn of the woman 
in the wilderness expires. Isaiah says of the church 
at that time: "And the ransomed of Jehovah shall 
return [from the wilderness of Edom], and come with 
singing unto Zion." (Isa. 35: 10.) The church re- 
turns from the wilderness a few days before the fall 
of the kingdom of the ten kings, and at the fall of 
that kingdom, as we have seen in a previous chapter, 
the kingdom of Media and Persia springs up. Did the 
church reach Jerusalem before this kingdom arose? 
That kingdom sets up the abomination of image wor- 
ship (see Chapter XIX.), and requires all men to re- 
ceive the government mark of the kingdom, or beast, 
on the forehead, or right hand. These events tran- 
spire close together. The church comes from Edom 
to Zion, the kingdom of the ten kings falls, and the 
beast with two horns rises and enacts the mark of this 

330 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

government. (Rev. 13: 10, 11, 16.) After John de- 
scribes the scene of Christ's standing on Mount Zion, 
he next saw three angels flying in midheaven, who 
make three distinct announcements, which will be 
made at the time the events occur, and which will be 
made between this appearance of Christ and the en- 
actment of the law enforcing the mark of the beast. 
Let the reader note the fact that the kingdom of the 
ten kings existed forty-two months, or three years and 
a half, which is twelve hundred and seventy-seven 
days and a half, which is seventeen days and a half 
more than the twelve hundred and sixty days of the 
sojourn of the church in the wilderness. These sev- 
enteen days and a half were occupied by the church, 
under the protection of God, both in entering the 
wilderness after the rise of the kingdom of the ten 
kings and in going from the wilderness to Jerusalem 
just before that kingdom falls. We cannot say just 
how much of this time was occupied in going from 
the wilderness to Jerusalem, but we know when the 
kingdom of the ten kings falls the church will have 
been out of the wilderness and have reached the habi- 
tation of men, and thus have been on her way to or 
reached Zion something over three days and a half; 
otherwise when the two prophets fall (who were the 
last of the church in the inhabited earth), if the church 
was in the wilderness at that time and had not reached 
the inhabited earth, then there will be an interregnum 
in God's kingdom on what God calls the " earth " 
from the time they fall until the church returns to 
the inhabited earth. This will never come to pass in 

331 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

the earth, or in the inhabited earth, as the word 
" earth " is used here. 

When the kingdom of the ten kings falls, every ves- 
tige of Christendom will have fallen (not a denomi- 
nation will be allowed to exist after the fall of that 
kingdom), and at that very time the church will have 
been out of the wilderness and on her way to Jeru- 
salem something over three days and a half, if she 
is not there. Also the kingdom of the Lamb with two 
horns comes into existence three days and a half after 
the fall of the two prophets, which requires all men to 
receive its mark. At the conclusion of the descrip- 
tion of the scene of Christ on Mount Zion three an- 
gels appear in midheaven and announce three facts. 
The first says : " Fear God, and give him glory ; for 
the hour of his judgment is come." (Rev. 14: 7.) 
The hour when all men will be tried on earth is come. 
The second says : " Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great " 
(Christendom under a federation of churches, then 
under the kingdom of the ten kings). The last ves- 
tige of Christendom at this time has been swept from 
the earth. The third says : " If any man worshipeth 
the beast and his image, and receiveth a mark on his 
forehead, or upon his hand, he also shall drink of the 
wine of the wrath of God." (Rev. 14: 9, 10.) This 
warning locates the time of these scenes — the time 
when Christ and the seven churches will meet — for it 
will be given to the people of earth before they receive 
the mark of the beast, and, therefore, at the very rise 
of the kingdom of Media and Persia, which arises at 
the fall of the kingdom of the ten kings, and, there- 

332 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

fore, just a few days after the church leaves the wil- 
derness of Edom to come to Zion. 

From the borders of Edom to the city of Jerusalem 
the distance does not exceed fifty or sixty miles, and 
it is certain the church will have left the wilderness 
and again come into that part of Palestine inhabited 
by people when the two prophets of God fall. They 
will, therefore, be at Jerusalem, or near there, at least 
three days and a half before the fall of the kingdom 
of the ten kings and the rise of Media and Persia, 
which kingdom enacts the mark of the beast. When 
we trace these events as God has given them, we find 
that at the fall of the two prophets every Christian 
on earth will be at some populated place between the 
wilderness of Edom and Mount Zion (if not at that 
place at that time) at least three days and a half before 
the rise of Media and Persia or the appearance of 
Christ on Mount Zion. They will meet him there. 
He will there stand in the midst of seven provincial 
churches. 

Another thing testifying to the fact that the church 
will be in Jerusalem at the time Christ appears there 
is that it is hardly to be believed that the promise he 
signified to John by his symbolic angel standing in the 
midst of seven candlesticks meant nothing and will 
never be fulfilled, or that the complete revelation of 
God does not show how it will be fulfilled. Neither 
can we believe that he will first appear on Mount 
Zion amid men in the flesh, who hear the celestial an- 
gels sing, and none of them his people, and then that 
he will disappear just as or immediately before all his 
people — seven great provincial churches, every Chris- 

333 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

tian on earth — arrive at that very place. This is the 
first appearance of Christ on earth since the revela- 
tion was given — that is, it is the first appearance given 
in either divine or human history; and these two 
sources are the only sources from which men can ac- 
quire faith in any event of the past or future. At 
the very time Christ stands on Mount Zion we know 
the seven provincial churches have been more than 
three days and a half on their way from the wilderness 
of Edom to Zion, and from the short distance of this 
journey and the delight which God takes in the faith- 
ful walk of his children it is not possible to believe 
that Christ will be first seen on earth by men in the 
flesh, and yet not be seen by any of his own people. This 
new song will be sung by the angels of heaven, not in 
celebration of Christ's coming to earth to meet any 
people not his own. No, it is not possible that Christ 
will appear on earth amid a celestial serenade to meet 
and be seen first by men in the flesh who are not his 
people, and then disappear just before every Christian 
on earth arrives at the very place where he will first 
be seen by men. But it is certain that enough of the 
seventeen days and a half noted above will lap over 
their sojourn in the wilderness to enable them to reach 
Jerusalem and gather around their Savior when he 
descends to earth. They will be there and see him 
when he comes from the skies amid the songs of celes- 
tial voices, which will mingle with the voices of resur- 
rected men to sing a new song, a song sung in cele- 
bration of a new, a great and surpassing event on 
earth — the meeting of Christ with his seven future 
churches in fulfillment of his prophetic promise. 

334 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

When the kingdoms of earth go into a state of an- 
archy, it is not reasonable to suppose that those con- 
ditions can last long in the presence of ten great well- 
organized armies ; neither can all these kingdoms be 
reorganized in a day or a week, but they will be in 
disorder, be in a spiritual wilderness, long enough for 
all of God's people to reach the borders of the wil- 
derness ; for the persecution of the woman is the first 
act of the reorganized kingdoms, and we find an army 
of the ten kings at that time pursuing the woman, 
and they go in one body or stream, and, therefore, to 
one place, like a river, in pursuit of the woman. (See 
Rev. 12.) This shows the gathering of God's peo- 
ple on the borders of Edom by the time of the rise 
of the ten kings. It is, therefore, certain that but lit- 
tle of the seventeen days and a half is spent before 
they are safe in the wilderness, and it places most of the 
seventeen days and a half to be spent after the church 
leaves the wilderness to go to Jerusalem. All the 
evidence tends to show God's people will have arrived 
in Jerusalem at the time of the fall of God's two 
prophets — at the dissolution of the kingdom of the 
ten kings. There is hardly a doubt that the seven pro- 
vincial churches will have left the wilderness and be 
entering the city of Jerusalem on the day the two 
prophets of God fall, and there is none whatever that 
they will see Christ descending from the skies and 
stand on Mount Zion. 

When the seven provincial churches of God leave 
the wilderness, they will move toward Mount Zion to 
meet and see their Savior descending from the skies. 
They will move upon the wings of hope and faith, and 

335 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

he will not disappear just a few hours before they ar- 
rive. They will meet him there amid the serenade of 
heavenly angels and resurrected men, whose voices 
will reverberate on earth like the intonations of thun- 
der or like the voice of an innumerable company of 
people — like the sweet melodies of harpers harping 
with their harps. 

These facts show us that Christ will meet seven 
provincial churches at Jerusalem when they return 
from the wilderness and come to Zion. He there ful- 
fills his promise to " stand in the midst of seven 
churches." There will be seven churches gathered in 
the wilderness. The people who make the bodies of 
these seven churches will come from the seven great 
provinces of Christendom. All the world will be di- 
vided into seven provinces under seven kings, seven 
local kingdoms united under one great federation ; and 
there will exist at that time only seven churches of 
God in the sense in which we use the expression 
" church of God " in the United States, England, 
France, Germany, Ephesus, or Philadelphia. This is 
the only sense in which God now has a church on earth. 
They will flee from Christendom to the wilderness, 
and thence to Zion, where Christ will stand in the 
midst of these seven churches symbolized by the seven 
candlesticks. 

Let us rest this argument here and endeavor to see 
who the angels of the seven churches are. 



3Z6 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



The Seven Addresses to the Angels of the Seven 
Churches of Asia Are to People Who Have Not 
Yet Lived. 

Let the reader remember that no small events were 
ever foretold by the God of the Bible. The destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem and the scattering of the Jews are 
among the average events of prophecy as to magni- 
tude, and they were chosen, among other things, to be 
monumental. The history of the world clearly records 
every prophecy fulfilled in the past. God has never 
allowed one to escape the historian's pen. We can 
rest assured that none of them have been fulfilled in 
a way that would not by their publicity do more to 
glorify God and intensify and revivify the faith of 
man than they would if left in obscurity. No proph- 
ecy was ever given by the God of the Bible which was 
not preserved in history to the glory of God among 
men. Even those given centuries ago still honor and 
glorify God and strengthen the faith of him who read- 
eth. With this idea in mind, let us examine some of 
the statements in some of the seven addresses to the 
seven angels of the churches of Asia and see if they are 
addressed to any people of the past. 

" Fear not the things which thou art about to suffer : 
behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into 
prison." (Rev. 2: 10.) 

22 2,2>7 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

The expression, " some of you," shows the word 
" angel " refers to and embraces in its use in this book 
a plurality of people. We must infer that this is true 
in each address, for they are all used exactly alike 
and in the singular number, and that these angels all 
exist at one and the same time. 

" I know thy works, and thy toil and patience, and 
that thou canst not bear evil men, and didst try them 
that call themselves apostles, and they are not, and 
didst find them false." (Rev. 2:2.) 

When has this great event transpired in the past? 
Has it glorified God in a fulfillment in the past, like 
the fulfillment of the destruction of Jerusalem, or the 
fulfillment of the prophecy of the setting up of the 
kingdom of God ? In the first verse in the Apocalypse, 
God groups this event with the coming of Christ, and 
we must stand by his word until we can show an un- 
doubted and clear history of its fulfillment in the 
past. Then we can conscientiously repudiate this first 
verse. 

" To him that overcometh, to him will I give of the 
hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and 
upon the stone a new name written, which no one 
knoweth but he that receiveth it." (Rev. 2: 17.) 

He who claims this event has been fulfilled in the 
past and was given to strengthen the faith of all God's 
people no doubt can point to the page in the history 
of the world in which is shown its fulfillment and how 
it strengthened their own faith and the faith of him or 
those who received this gift, and how it glorified God 
in fulfilHng his promise. It will be fulfilled in this 
life, and it will be done when Christ comes to fulfill 

338 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

it. The promise is made by Christ to prepare those 
who will live amid the great trials of earth that will 
come upon the whole world, and they will be living at 
his coming. 

" To the angel of the church in Smyrna write, . . . 
Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the 
crown of life. . . . He that overcometh shall not 
be hurt of the second death." (Rev. 2:8-11.) 

This angel, like the others, will live amid the great 
tribulations which will come upon the whole world 
near the coming of Christ. Here is what these people 
must meet, and even in death they must be true and 
faithful and overcome them : "And I saw the souls of 
them that had been beheaded for the testimony of 
Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as wor- 
shiped not the beast, neither his image, and received 
not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand ; 
and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand 
years. . . . This is the first resurrection. Blessed 
and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection : 
over these the second death hath no power." (Rev. 
20: 4-6.) Here John shows the things to be over- 
come to escape the second death. Among them is to 
reject the mark of the government, or the mark of the 
beast. This kingdom with its government mark is 
unknown to the past history; yet Christ tells the an- 
gel of Smyrna that " he [among the seven future 
churches] that overcometh [and, among other things, 
rejects the mark of this government] shall not be hurt 
of the second death." This shows that the people 
called " the angel of Smyrna " have a genealogical ex- 
istence and will be on earth as churches when this 

339 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

government mark is in force; and they are promised 
that not only them, but " he " (every one who rejects 
this mark) will " not be hurt of the second death." 
In fact, it promises them a translation, or a life before 
the second death. This places these people with an 
existence amid these great trials, in the presence of this 
fearful kingdom, and just before the coming of Christ ; 
yet we find they descended from one of the seven 
churches of Asia, all of which churches passed away 
over eighteen centuries ago. Any one who has learned 
a little of the truth of these words knows that no gov- 
ernment has ever yet set up this image to be worshiped 
and put in force such a designating mark of its wor- 
shipers. This places the angel of Smyrna living 
among the great tribulations of prophecy yet in the 
future. It shows that the word " angel " is the name 
or one of the names God applies to his people through 
all these ages. Why should men speculate on these 
scriptures, when the truth is so plain and a hundred- 
fold more useful as well as interesting? 

" But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of 
the Nicolaitans, which I also hate." (Rev. 2:6.) 

There is not a single figurative word in this expres- 
sion. The name " Nicolaitans " is a concrete noun 
and could no more stand for another name than the 
name " Ephesus " could be correctly applied to the 
city of Jerusalem or Corinth. Neither could it stand 
for any other religious sect, any more than the reli- 
gious party named " IMethodist " could stand for or be 
correctly applied to the people of the religious party 
called " Presbyterian." There is not a denomination 
on earth that God has ever noted to this day by its 

340 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

special name or otherwise; and when he does in the 
future, it is by caUing it " a name of blasphemy." But 
this religious people is noted by God above any other 
that will ever exist in Christendom, and the whole world 
will hear this name and understand its doctrine when 
it does exist. The Nicolaitans and their notorious life 
are grouped by God with the other events of this his- 
tory and embraced with the coming of Christ within 
the compass and time embraced within the phrase 
"shortly come to pass." (Rev. 1:1.) It is some- 
times claimed that this prophetic people, whose ex- 
istence is grouped by John among the things at and 
including the coming of Christ, had a real existence 
in the first and perhaps the second century. Their 
existence, as seen and described by John in the first 
century, was in these visions, which are placed with 
the coming of Christ. The cloudy reference to the 
Nicolaitans by Irenseus as a sect of gnostics, and in 
which he is followed by Hippolytus, can in neither 
case be taken as evidence that this prophetic sect be- 
gan in the first century and, like the " stars " of these 
visions, continues to exist in a genealogical sense to 
the coming of Christ. We cannot show they exist at 
this time. We must recognize the fact that the Scrip- 
tures after the middle of the second century were far 
less understood than they are at the present time. 
The bitterness and strife between the early religious 
sects was at least as great as it has been at any time in 
the last thousand years. As we know that all the ugly 
names and characters in the Apocalypse have been 
rudely applied to each other by the different sects of 
Christendom during these ages, it would be unreason- 

341 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

able to believe this name was not applied to some sect 
of the early centuries by the malice of the sectarian 
spirit as it now is. This is the only way to account 
for the name of a people, who will be existing at the 
coming of Christ, being applied to any sect of the 
past. This name is derived from the Greek word 
" Nicolos," which is equivalent to the Hebrew word 
" Balaam ; " yet, in whatever language it is named, 
when it does exist, it will have this meaning in the 
name. This meaning is fixed in the name by God, 
and it will be clear to all who live when it shall arise 
on the earth. The characteristics of this name are not 
to be found in the name of any denomination with an 
existence from the first or any other century and con- 
tinuing through the ages until shortly before the com- 
ing of Christ. The Nicolaitans will be on earth near 
the coming of Christ, and this is the earliest age we 
are able to find their history. This evil sect has never 
yet existed; and, therefore, the people who are to 
keep the things of this or any of the seven addresses 
have never yet lived, for they exist at one and the same 
time. 

"And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: 
, . . And he that overcometh, and he that keepeth 
my works unto the end, to him will I give authority 
over the nations : and he shall rule them with a rod of 
iron." (Rev. 2: 18-27.) 

"And she was delivered of a son, a man child, who 
is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron." (Rev. 
12:5.) 

Here in the second chapter of Revelation it is said 
that the angel of Thyatira, together with him that 

342 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

" keepeth my works unto the end," shall " rule all 
the nations with a rod of iron." In the twelfth chap- 
ter of the same Revelation it is said that the man child 
of the church was to do this very thing. This shows 
who the man child is, and it shows him to be not only 
the people addressed as "the angel of the church in 
Thyatira," but it also embraces all of God's people 
who will be living at the time of these events, who 
will be embraced in the expression, "he that keep- 
eth my works unto the end." 

After the ruling power of the man child is exercised 
on the seven-headed beast who attempts to devour 
him, we find that beast next in a spiritual wilderness, 
or state of legal dissolution, like the vessels of a pot- 
ter when they are broken to shivers. (Rev. 17.) 
This is exactly the condition foretold as a result of the 
rule of the angel addressed as that of Thyatira : "And 
he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels 
of the potter are broken to shivers." (Rev. 2: 27.) 
This is one and the same event, and this ruling of the 
nations by the angel of the church of Thyatira. and 
by " he that overcometh " is done by the man child, 
who will exist when the world is under the dominion 
of seven kings (Rev. 12), who will be ruled by a 
federal union of the denominations of Christendom, 
which is that "great city" which is yet to be (Rev. 
17.) Therefore we rest in the full assurance of faith 
that this address is to the future genealogical age of 
the angel of the seven churches of Asia — to people 
who have never yet lived; and our faith should and 
will continue to anchor here until we are shown that 
all the nations of earth have at some time in the past 

343 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

been in as perfect union as the' parts of an image or 
the parts of a beast bound together by one and the 
same vital constitution, and that they, while in that 
union, are " broken to shivers " or become as " the 
chafif of the summer threshing floors." (Dan. 2.) 
This will be done by the power of the angel of Thya- 
tira (Rev. 2), by the man child, by him "who over- 
cometh and keepeth the works of Christ to the end." 
" To the end " — the end of the Christian dispensation 
is in the future, and not a thing of the past. These 
things have not yet begun that any one knows of. 
They will begin before they end. 

This event was foretold by David as a thing con- 
ferred on Christ by God. David says : " Thou art my 
son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and 
I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and 
the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. 
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron ; thou shalt 
dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." (Ps. 2: 
7-9.) 

Christ says to the angel of the church at Thyatira 
and to " him that overcometh : " "And he shall rule 
them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are 
broken to shivers; as I also have received of my Fa- 
ther." (Rev. 2:27.) 

Here we have Christ delegating to his people or 
angels in th^ future the power over the nations con- 
ferred on him by the Father. This power is given, not 
to local churches, but to his messengers on earth. 
This shows God addressing all his people, his inter- 
national kingdom, as " stars," and not as " churches " 
or " candlesticks." These angels are to engage in an 

344 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

— — — ■— ^^— ^— — — — ^— I— III I I — —— — K. 

international warfare. They are to break the nations 
into shivers. This work was not to be accompHshed 
until a time near the coming of Christ. The nations 
will not be broken as " the vessels of a potter " or 
become as ** the chaff of the summer threshing floors " 
but one time, and that will be done by his angels. It 
will be when the nations are united under seven 
crowns, which has never yet been ; and, therefore, 
these things have never been read and kept or per- 
formed by God's messengers in any age of the past, 
because they have never yet transpired. The seven 
stars (Rev. 1 : 20), the symbol of the seven angels, all 
existed at one and the same time ; therefore the same 
is true of these seven angels and the scenes they par- 
ticipate in. 

" Behold, I give of the synagogue of Satan, of them 
that say they are Jews, and they are not, but do lie; 
behold, I will make them to come and worship before 
thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee." (Rev. 
3:9.) 

The feet of the church are the foundation of the 
church. "And Simon Peter answered and said. Thou 
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus 
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon 
Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it 
unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I 
also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this 
rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades 
shall not prevail against it." (Matt. 16: 16-19.) No 
spiritual or immaterial house or institution can be 
built upon a temporal or material foundation. Peter 
was not yet an apostle at this time. He was a mor- 

345 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

tal man in the flesh. Hades has long since prevailed 
against Peter. But the church — God's kingdom, or 
form of government — is here, has been here for over 
eighteen centuries, because it is spiritual, but with a 
material body, and has been built on a spiritual foun- 
dation. It was built on a fact. This fact is immortal ; 
it can never pass away. It was built on the fact that 
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. This is the feet, the 
foundation, on which Christ built his church. 

God here foretells that many Jews will accept Christ 
as the Son of God and will come and worship at the 
feet, the foundation, of the church of Christ. They 
must come to the fact and believe the fact that Christ 
is the Son of God before they can worship God, be- 
fore God can recognize such an act as an act of wor- 
ship or before they can call upon his name. 

They cannot worship God without coming to and 
accepting the feet of the church of Christ, the foun- 
dation upon which he built his church, which was the 
fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 

" Behold, I will make them to come and worship 
before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee." 

This is addressed to the angel of the church at Phil- 
adelphia, as we have seen. Has it been fulfilled 
in the past? When have any people calling them- 
selves "Jews " in any age of the past come and 
worshiped with a faith that Christ is the Son of 
God? When has it ever in the past been even 
believed by, much less known to, a people, call- 
ing themselves "Jews," that God has loved Christian 
worshipers? This is yet to be. It has never yet been 
fulfilled, but will certainly come to pass in the great 

346 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

future revolutions and persecutions to take place in 
the suppression of the Bible. Then the honest Jew, 
like the true Christian, will cleave to the word of God. 
He will hold to the Old Testament and the law of 
Moses amid the storms of future persecutions, as he 
has done in the ages of the past. When his worship 
is cast down in Christendom and the extermination of 
his ancient racial lines and distinctiveness as a religious 
people is attacked for obliteration or mutilation, he 
will again return by tradition or instinct to the land 
of his fathers, which will, in the beginning of these 
persecutions, be less subject to these turmoils. When 
the churches from the seed borne by the angels of the 
seven churches of Asia shall return from Edom and 
come to Zion, that land of promise will hold many 
thousands of the best of the Jewish nation. It is 
probable that it will be a Jewish-governed province. 
(Matt. 24: 15-21.) They will witness the meeting 
of Christ and his churches from seven great na;tions. 
They will see him stand amid the seven golden candle- 
sticks and hear the thunder peals of a new song, sung 
by the voices of celestial angels, united with a mighty 
throng of resurrected men, many of whom will be 
Jews. They will hear a voice from heaven as the voice 
of many waters and as a voice of great thunder. It 
will be as the voice of harpers harping with their 
harps. They will hear a great song, sung by a great 
multitude of resurrected men, a song sung by one 
hundred and forty-four thousand resurrected men. 
Many of these will be such as Daniel and the other 
prophets and leading men of the Jews. This will cap- 
tivate and convert the best of the Jews by the thou- 

347 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

sand. Thus God Avill make them beHeve and worship 
with the Christians at this appearing of Christ. 

They will see and hear this manifested love of God 
for his Christian worshipers, and thus in fear and con- 
viction they will bow before the God of Christ, as well 
as of Moses, and worship at the feet or accept the 
basic fact, the foundation, of God's prophetic churches 
in fulfillment of this prophecy. They have never done 
so yet. The Jew has never recognized the foundation 
of the church of Christ in any age of the past since 
the primitive church. 

John here by this figure, when read with connecting 
scriptures, foretells the return of the Jews to the land 
of promise. Who can believe that when a common 
federal creed is set up by the kingdoms of earth as a 
rule of worship for every nation, tribe, and tongue of 
earth, which will include the Jew, he will be less faith- 
ful and true to his religion than his ancestors have 
been? He will reject the federal creed, like every true 
Christian, and, being led by prophecy or tradition, will 
return as by instinct to the land of his nativity. He 
will there, at the meeting of Christ with his churches 
from the seven great provinces of Christendom, in 
fear and conviction, worship at the feet of the church 
by accepting the feet, the foundation, of the church, 
which is to accept the fact that Christ is the Son of God 
and must be their Savior. This will be without obe- 
dience to external ordinances to the church, for the 
court to the church will at that time have passed away. 
(See Joel 2: 32.) 

No great body of Jews since the apostolic age has 
ever accepted Christ as their Savior. To worship at 

348 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

the feet of the body of a church of Christ is to accept 
Christ as a Savior. When this prophecy is fulfilled, 
they will not only believe this fact, but they will actu- 
ally know it as Christ here foretells, for they will be- 
hold God's love for these people with their own eyes, 
and they will then worship the same God, the God of 
both Jew and Christian, and they will worship before 
the feet of the very people whom Christ here ad- 
dresses by accepting Christ as the Savior. When the 
future prophetic persecutions and religious coercions 
shall begin from a federation of the denominations of 
earth and the erection of an international creed, the 
Jew will be found still true to his name and religion. 
For his love of his religion, his distinctiveness and 
voluntary separation and isolation from all other peo- 
ple, he has remained unbroken through the persecu- 
tions of forty centuries. He has worn out every rod 
that has ever smitten him for his religion. He stands 
to-day with the law of Moses in his hand, which no 
persuasion of man or coercive laws has ever caused or 
ever will cause him to lay down and for it accept an- 
other; and he will fulfill this, the last prophecy point- 
ing to him by the God of his fathers by worshiping 
at the basic foundation of the churches of Christ at the 
time this prophecy is fulfilled, which tells us, when 
united with other prophecies, that the Christian and 
the Jew will meet each other in Jerusalem. 

Christ, speaking of the events which will shortly 
precede his coming, says : " But immediately after the 
tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, 
and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars 
shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heav- 

349 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

ens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the 
sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all 
the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the 
Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with 
power and great glory." (Matt. 24 : 29, 30.) 

None would undertake to show that the*se great 
world-wide prophetic tribulations and trials will ever 
come upon the earth more than one time. Christ here 
in his prophecy places them just before his coming; 
yet John shows the angel of the church of Philadel- 
phia still existing and living on earth amid these world- 
wide trials. He says : " Because thou didst keep the 
word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the 
hour of trial, that hour which is to come upon the 
whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." 
To do this, to fulfill this promise, he further adds: 
"I come quickly." (Rev. 3: 10, 11.) This shows 
that these trials, like those of Matt. 24, take place im- 
mediately or shortly before his coming. These trials 
are one and the same, and should forever silence any 
theory that does not give the angels of the seven 
churches of Asia a genealogical existence extending 
from the time of the completion of the book of Reve- 
lation to the hour of these great trials, near the final 
coming of Christ. 

These great events in the seven addresses are im- 
movably and most distinctly and clearly grouped with 
these great tribulations and the coming of Christ, not 
only by these scriptures, but by the clear and nonfigu- 
rative statement of the first verse in the book, which 
embraces them all in a brief period of time contained 
in the expression, " shortly come to pass." The man 

350 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

who can break this God-riveted chain which binds 
every scene in the Apocalypse together, transpiring in 
a brief period of time, will have no trouble to" show 
that a short time in earthly affairs is, in fact and in 
truth, a long time and covers many centuries. He 
who can prove such a thing by God's word can easily 
show there is not a correct statement in the Bible. 
The seven angels of the seven churches of Asia begin 
an existence at the death of the apostle John and the 
completion of God's revelation to man. Their exist- 
ence will end when they emerge into seven provincial 
churches about twelve hundred and seventy-seven days 
before the first appearing of Christ, which will take 
place on Mount Zion. (See Rev. 14: 1.) These scrip- 
tures show that God's church during all this vast ex- 
panse of time has been too small to embrace any kind of 
a servant of God who could not be encompassed and 
who was not encompassed with his life work within 
the God-given appellation of " star," " angel." These 
celestial names embrace the character and life work of 
every Christian, both men and women, from the com- 
pletion of God's revelation to man until shortly before 
the coming of Christ. He who desires to learn the 
truth of these scriptures will be able, with a little labor, 
to harmonize these statements with every word in both 
the Old and the New Testament which has the remot- 
est bearing upon these positions. 

In Chapter XIX. of this volume we have shown that 
the kingdom, or form of monarchy, introduced by Me- 
dia and Persia over two thousand years ago will at 
some time in the future hold a universal reign over 
all the earth, as given in Dan. 2 and Rev. 13 ; that dur- 

351 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

ing that reign this fearful kingdom will enforce a 
world-wide government mark and bring the greatest 
trials and tribulations upon the earth recorded in the 
annals of the human family (Rev. 13: 11-18; 6: 8). 
Its reign will not exceed a few months, yet during that 
short time it will kill by the sword and by famine and 
by disease one-fourth of all the people of earth. (Rev. 
6:8.) This is done to enforce the worship of a ma- 
terial image which it sets up and miraculously endows 
to be worshiped. Thus it desolates the whole earth by 
enforcing the worship of this abomination. This is 
certainly the abomination of desolation spoken of by 
Dan. 11: 31 and referred to by Christ, which is to 
precede his coming in the clouds of heaven and the 
beginning of the millennium (Matt. 24). It is the 
kingdom which inaugurates a government mark and 
requires all who buy or sell to have this mark either 
on the hand or forehead. This kingdom thus brings 
the greatest tribulation upon the whole earth that it is 
possible for the mind to grasp. It arises just at the 
first advent of Christ known to the word of God. 
(Rev. 14.) As we have seen, and as a matter of fact, 
Christ meets his people on Mount Zion just before 
the rise of this fearful kingdom with its immutable 
laws and government mark. This visit is to meet his 
people and fulfill his promise (Rev. 1 : 12-17) to stand 
in the midst of seven golden candlesticks and to ful- 
fill his further promise to the angel of the church of 
Philadelphia as given in Rev. 3 : 10. From this latter 
promise and from the opportune time we infer the 
purpose of this visit to his people in fulfillment of these 
prophecies is to revivify their faith and love and pa- 

352 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

tience, and thus fortify, prepare, and strengthen them 
to meet these great trials which will at that time be 
facing them. He will thus, as he promises, be at 
the door as well as stand in the midst of these seven 
golden candlesticks in due time and keep them from 
falling in this hour of trial which will come " to try 
them that dwell upon the earth." Its scenes, as shown 
by these scriptures, will bring such tribulations, such 
fearful destruction of life, sorrow, and desolation on 
the earth that they will indeed need the Christlike pa- 
tience and faith and hope that bore him triumphantly 
through the trials of the cross. When he descends 
from the skies to meet them, it will strengthen and 
help them as nothing else could do. 

Daniel, twenty-five hundred years ago, pointing 
down to these scenes, says : "And they that are wise 
among the people shall instruct many; yet they shall 
fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by 
spoil, many days. Now when they shall fall, they shall 
be helped with a little help ; but many shall join them- 
selves unto them with flatteries. And some of them 
that are wise shall fall, to refine them, and to purify, 
and to make them white, even to the time of the end ; 
because it is yet for the time appointed." (Dan. 11: 
33-35.) Daniel groups these scenes with these same 
great tribulations and speaks of it with its abomination 
of desolation. (Dan. 11: 31.) John more fully de- 
tails and reveals these scenes. He shows that if the 
population of the world is the same at the time these 
scenes are enacted, this kingdom will kill the great 
and incomprehensible number of over four hundred 
million of people. This will be done in what Daniel 
2^ 353 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

calls " days/' Christ says : "And except those days 
had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved." 
(Matt. 24: 22.) No followers of Christ in the flesh 
would have been saved except those days had been 
shortened. These people will live amid its scenes with 
a faith made immovable by a full comprehension of 
the prophetic storms which will rage around them. 
They will, in life or in death, glorify and honor the 
God of this prophecy, as no other people have done in 
any age of the past. When they experience its reali- 
ties and recognize these great destructive institutions 
with their revolutions described in the Book, written 
many centuries before they come to pass, its words will 
be heeded and treasured by them as the voice of God 
addressing them, as it were, across the chasm of cen- 
turies. 

Its words will come to them, not as an echo through 
the ages from a sleeping Savior, but as the fresh and 
burning words of a risen and existing Lord — a Lord 
who has promised to meet them while they live in 
the flesh and who, they will find, will be able to redeem 
his word. They will, by the life-shielding power of 
the words of this revelation, be able to ride above the 
engulfing waves of its prophetic spiritual tornadoes, 
wade through a world of sorrow and tribulation, and 
meet their Savior at INIount Zion, where he will re- 
deem his promise to " stand in the midst of seven 
golden candlesticks." 



3S4 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Who Are the Angels of the Seven Churches of 
Asia? They Are the People of God, Who Now 
Bear, Who Have Borne, and Who Will Continue 
to Bear His Message to Mankind. 



" The seven stars are the angels of the seven 
churches." (Rev. 1:20.) 

This is a clear statement that the seven churches of 
Asia named in the vision had angels. What is an 
angel ? The word " angel " literally means a " mes- 
senger," and is so used in many places in the Bible. 
(See Luke 2: 13.) The angels of the seven churches 
of Asia received a written message from John sent 
to the seven churches of Asia, in which they (the 
angels) are addressed, as we have seen, at a time near 
the coming of Christ. They had no message except 
the Bible, including the Apocalypse, in which they are 
admonished to let " the churches hear what the Spirit 
saith." Every word of this message is written in the 
book. No apostle, prophet, evangelist, elder, or in- 
spired teacher was ever called an " angel," or " mes- 
senger," by the God of the Bible and given a work of 
delivering a written message. None of these ever had 
such a restricted mission. Therefore this excludes 
every kind of apostolic church official (there are 

355 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

none such now) from the possibihty of being one of 
these angels. This does not necessarily exclude the 
present-day official from being a messenger, for he is 
nothing but a common kind of Christian ; for they have 
all been appointed by man's devices, and they are not 
inspired. Inspiration by God bestowed upon men gave 
them authority in the primitive church, and thus the 
authority in God's kingdom came and still remains by 
inspiration. The present-day official receives his au- 
thority through his people. Thus all churches now in 
existence, without a single exception, appear to be 
more or less democratic. 

No man or council of men has ever had the right 
or privilege from God to add to this message or take 
an item from it. We deny that any man, or any 
council or class of men, has had any authority from 
God to deliver this message or carry it on its predes- 
tined course than that which all other Christians have 
had. The name " angel " as used here does not make 
any classifications, and it levels and removes all dis- 
tinctions between men as authorized Christians or 
angels of God for the delivery of his message or for 
any other purpose during the ages. This is true except 
in the natural and acquired qualifications for such 
work. The class distinctions were made in the church 
prior to the completion of God's word by " the gifts 
of God from on high." (Eph. 4.) These "gifts of 
God from on high " appear to be the only seed, if 
they can be called " spiritual seed," from which or by 
which came all officials of the church prior to the 
completion of the written word. We are calling at- 
tention to these scriptures and facts to show that the 

356 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

primitive church official is shown by his equipment to 
have been a teacher as well as a revealer of God's 
unrevealed truths, and was never appointed or ordained 
to do the work of delivering a written message. Be- 
ing unable to find the seed for the church official in 
the Bible, except as a product of miracle, and since 
the days of miracles, by the various devices for ap- 
pointing him by uninspired men, and unable to find 
him with his primitive equipment, we are irresistibly 
driven to the conclusion that when the revelation was 
complete, these primitive distinctions between Chris- 
tians ceased. God then and there pronounced all his 
people through all ages *' angels," which we believe to 
be equivalent to the word " Christian " in its fullest 
sense. 

Not only do these scriptures appear to eradicate all 
distinctions between God's people by addressing them 
one and all by the same name, the name " angel," dur- 
ing all these centuries, but his people in every denomi- 
nation have individually and in systematic fellowship, 
one and all, assumed the authority and personal right 
to deliver God's word to the world. They have not 
only assumed this authority, but they have actually 
been doing this work for eighteen centuries. They 
have done and are now doing so without compunction 
of conscience. They have considered it a privilege 
and duty to God and to their fellow men to do so. 

In harmony with this God-given name and work to 
all Christians, we ask: Where is the Christian to be 
found among Christians who could be intimidated by 
any opposition and caused to abandon the right to 
teach the things of the Bible by both proclamation and 

357 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

a life exemplifying the beauties and charm of God's 
word? Neither men nor women have been deterred 
from performing this commonly recognized duty of all 
Christians. They have not been discouraged or stopped 
from holding up God's word and proclaiming it to the 
world even by the threats of the criminal's prison or 
in the presence of death itself in all its ugly forms. 
The persecutions in all ages have strengthened the 
hands and purified the lives of these angels of God. 
This work has not been done in a corner or by the 
alleged vicegerents of the Lord or by any lordly church 
official in any age, but it has been done by the hosts of 
God's angels as they have lived through the ages. 

" Nevertheless that which ye have, hold fast till I 
come." (Rev. 2:25.) 

The angels of the seven churches of Asia are ordi- 
dary men in the flesh ; they are bearers of a written 
message from those churches to the servants of God, 
who were to receive and comprehend the message ; 
and by the above scripture, with many other like ex- 
pressions, we find if they are faithful to their ministry 
they will, through their genealogical descent through the 
ages, be on earth at the coming of Christ. We repeat 
that the word " angel " was never applied to any living 
inspired man with a written message to deliver. Some 
inspired men have delivered written messages as a 
special act, but it was not a part of their ministry; 
they were not ordained for that purpose. There is 
not an instance in the whole Bible where an inspired 
man ever bore a written message except incidentally. 
It was no part of the inspired man's ministry. There- 
fore the word " angel " was never applied to any 

358 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

church official in the apostoHc church, for the primitive 
officials were all inspired. (See Eph. 4: 8-11.) God 
never inspired or ordained any man to bear, as his 
work or as a part of his work of ministry, a written 
message. Such an act is not to be found in the econ- 
omy of God. Therefore the people here addressed as 
** angels " are ordinary Christians. 

The word " angel '* as used in the seven addresses 
is generic and includes all Christians who live between 
the time of the seven churches of Asia and the com- 
ing of Christ. In harmony with this, we find that when 
the Book was written the members of these seven 
churches are denominated " angels," or " messengers," 
of the seven churches ; but not a word is addressed to 
any of these angels until near the coming of Christ, 
while they live amid the great tribulations spoken of 
by Christ, which will shortly precede his coming. 
(Matt. 24 : 29 ; Rev. 13 : 2, 3.) We find the angels of 
the seven churches of Asia on earth when the Apoca- 
lypse was finished, and we find them addressed while 
here in the presence of the first universal kingdom of 
earth, which is represented by a beast with seven heads 
and ten horns, which has never yet existed. These an- 
gels are among the people who make up the body of 
the " man child of the church," as we have seen in an- 
other chapter. 

These angels are not the messengers of John, as it 
is said, who bore the book sent by him to the seven 
churches of Asia. No one can prove such a surmise. 
If John had messengers, they were men, who, unlike 
the angels of the seven churches, have long since 
passed from earth. They died with the physical gen- 

359 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

eration among whom they lived. But these angels of 
these churches have had a genealogical existence, 
which, as the scriptures show, will reach from the 
death of John to near the future coming of Christ. 

We might write a hundred pages about who bore 
the book from John to the seven churches of Asia, 
and draw on our imagination for a pathetic picture of 
the reverence and love of these churches for him — 
how they with one accord sent their elders, or chosen 
members, who longed to see the aged and beloved 
John in the isle of Patmos, with a sweet message of 
condolence to him in his old age, banishment, im- 
prisonment, and cruel separation from his friends and 
fellow servants, and thus providentially brought the 
book from John to the seven churches of Asia — but 
we could accomplish no good by doing so ; at most, 
we could only expect to direct the mind of the reader 
to the visions of our own imagination in place of the 
real facts as given in the book, and this we would re- 
gret to do. These would be angels of John with his 
message to the seven churches of Asia. We know 
nothing about the angel or angels, the messengers or 
message of John to the seven churches of Asia; nei- 
ther does any one know any more about these unre- 
vealed and unimportant personages and messages, if 
there were such, than we know about who buried John 
or whether he was translated or not. Such specula- 
tions are but the purest visions and dreams, with- 
out foundation in reason or revelation that we can 
find. The messengers, or angels, represented by the 
seven stars are the angels of the seven churches of 
Asia who were to bear the message received and pos- 

360 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

sessed by these churches to seven future churches 
amid which Christ will yet stand and who are ad- 
dressed and who can be benefited by the message. 
The angel or angels of John to the seven churches are 
unknown to the word of God; but the angels of the 
seven churches to the servants of God, who are ad- 
dressed and who will receive and read and keep the 
message and be blessed thereby, are the people of God, 
who have borne, who now bear, and who will continue 
to bear the word of God to those who will read it, 
understand it, and be blessed thereby. 

The word, or message, was completed when the 
book of Revelation was written and sent to the seven 
churches of Asia, and not till then. It was sent 
to the churches of Asia, who are thus shown at 
the time to have had both the message and messengers. 
Both the message and messengers we find at that time 
in these churches, and we find the messengers ad- 
dressed in the book, and they are instructed to " let 
the churches hear " certain parts of the message. 

The churches are seven future prophetic provincia) 
churches, as we have seen, with Christ standing in 
their midst. These angels of the seven churches of 
Asia are symbolized by stars, which are moving bod- 
ies, and give their light, not as assemblies, but as indi- 
viduals, to the world. Angels are not fixed local lights, 
like churches or candlesticks ; but they, like stars, are 
pilgrims without homes or local habitations. Mate- 
rial stars give light to all God's creatures ; so do these 
stars give light to God's spiritual world. 

The seven churches of Asia have long since ceased 
361 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

to exist; yet the written message placed with them 
has been carried from that age to this, from those 
churches to God's people who Hve at this time. It 
will, under the providence of God, be carried by his 
messengers to his servants, who will yet live and who 
are addressed and who will read and keep the things 
of that book when they come to pass, and amid whom 
Christ has promised to stand. Thus God has had an- 
gels, and no other class of people, in the sense the 
word is used here, as bearers of a written message, 
who have borne his message to man from the end of 
the apostolic age to the present time. 

This prophecy foretells the fact that we were to 
receive the message of God, full and complete, 
through a long line, an unbroken chain, of stars. 
Christianity is essentially individual; yet at the 
same time it is cooperative and imperative under the 
appointments and congregational worship found in the 
New Testament. But the only church on earth, or 
that has been known to the Scriptures, that we are able 
to be sure about is the one which embraces every 
Christian, every angel of God, who has lived through 
eighteen centuries. Anything larger or smaller than 
this is not the church of the New Testament. 

It has been the godly life and light of individual 
Christians that have gilded the pages of Christian his- 
tory in the past eighteen centuries ; but it was the local 
churches of God, with a measure of inspiration, with 
their apostles, prophets, and teachers, united by the 
Holy Spirit in the apostolic age, that have shone like 
candlesticks by the inspiration of Jehovah. (Acts 2: 
38.) They were the ground and pillar upon which 

362 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

God laid the new and shining truth. (1 Tim. 3: 15.) 
Since that time the Hves of individuals, in harmony 
with these scriptures, have given the golden tinge to 
the lightest and brightest pages in human history and 
have shown the right in contradistinction to error 
through the ages. Who can find an exception to this? 
These men have been messengers of the God of this 
prophecy. What light of God's truth has ever been 
raised by anything but a wise, a godly, and a good 
man in the past eighteen hundred years? Hidden 
truths have never been dug up and brought to light 
by organic unions of people. These are facts which 
both Ithe history of the world and every reformation 
in the past confirm. Not a truth has come from any 
of the organizations of men called " churches," but 
they have received every truth they have ever held 
from individual Christians, who have brought them 
from God's word and proclaimed them, while they 
themselves were in more or less disgrace and dishonor 
with every organic body calling itself a " church of 
God." This will and must, from the nature of things, 
prove true until every truth of God's word is learned, 
until party grip and party cords are broken. This will 
take place shortly before the coming of Christ. (Rev. 
12:1.) 

Therefore, God has, in his great wisdom, as this 
revelation shows and as its harmony with all God's 
word and the experience of the world shows, left the 
truth and development of light from the seed of his 
kingdom, since the days of inspiration, not to churches, 
but to angels, to individual Christians ; not to lights 
located and fixed in doctrine and practice, but to the 

363 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

moving spiritual stars of his kingdom. These mes- 
sengers of God are and have been free and thinking 
Christians. They are found in all denominations. 
They include those who have learned enough of the 
word of God to know they have not yet learned it all. 

Prophecy proclaims an unbroken existence of God's 
kingdom. (Dan. 2: 44.) In harmony with this and 
as a proof of its truth, we see the angels of God pour- 
ing out their blood for the message they bear, while 
the Roman empire stood in all her majesty and great- 
ness. We see their Hfe stream upon the pages of that 
great empire in her decline and down to her fall. We 
see their blood staining many pages of history in the 
rise and expansion of the nations of great Christen- 
dom. We look down the future years with God's 
record of the future life of these angels in our hand 
and behold them surviving the future shocks and 
storms which will wreck and ruin and obliterate every 
institui"ion which now exists upon the earth. Not a 
page of the Hfe of these angels of God is missing from 
the record of the world. The history of his angels 
is unbroken. It is like a chain without a lost link. 
It reaches down through the dark ages unto this day. 
Nothing called a " church " in Christendom can trace 
its origin back to the apostolic churches, but these an- 
gels can do so. We can look back to John in his iso- 
lation on the isle of Patmos and see him pointing to 
this long line of messengers from the last of God's 
apostolic churches who have told and who will tell 
the truth of the resurrection of a crucified King. We 
see them fill the great gap of centuries between the last 
of God's churches, the seven churches of Asia, and 

364 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

the seven prophetic provincial churches in the midst of 
which Christ has promised to stand and in the midst 
of which he will yet stand. They have filled this great 
gap with their lives and composed the body of God's 
international church, which has embraced every angel, 
every Christian that has lived through the ages. Their 
genealogical life will bring them, by the predestina- 
tion of God, to the feet of their Savior, when they shall 
stand on Mount Zion and behold him as he descends 
from the sky. This is one of the things which God 
tells us " must come to pass." We believe God. We 
can, by unquestioned history in harmony with this 
prophecy, look back upon this unbroken stream of an- 
gels pouring forth upon the world from the last of the 
apostolic churches, the seven churches of Asia, the 
fountains of perfect light from the oil of inspiration, 
and see them descend into the dark valleys of the 
early and middle ages, where they proclaimed the par- 
amount truth of the first and greatest command — that 
it is better to obey God than men. They, in the dark- 
ness of those ages, sealed their faith in the message 
of God which they bore with blood from their own 
veins. They, in the early and middle ages, proclaimed 
the fact by their martyrdom that the message of God 
to man which they bore would not and could not be 
withheld from the world ; and by the irresistible power 
of the blood of martyrs, inspired by a faith in the cru- 
cifixion of the Savior, they have caused the nations 
of earth to open wide their gates for knowledge and 
remove the obstacles through which this irresistible 
messenger host of God has moved. The road is now 
well beaten and smoothed for their onward march, 

365 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

bearing to the world the gathering brightness of the 
full and complete message of God, possessed by the 
seven churches of Asia, whence they came. We 
see these same messengers of God, as they burst 
through the fogs and clouds of those dark ages, as- 
cending to a higher and sunnier plane, headed by the 
great Calvin, the bold and courageous Luther, and 
many others who have preceded and succeeded them 
and who were ready to die for their faith and love for 
the message they bore. 

This chain of prophetic angels is unbroken, from the 
disbanding of the last of God's churches, the seven 
churches of Asia, whence they came, to the pres- 
ent day, when we find them with the very message 
received by the apostolic churches laid at the threshold 
of every heart in broad Christendom and made ready 
for its easy reception by every nation and tongue of 
earth. Much of the message has been read and shown 
to all the ages of the past ; but much of it, and espe- 
cially the last book of that message, has not yet 
reached its destination and been placed in the hands 
of those servants of God for whose preservation it 
was written. But the angels from the seven churches 
of Asia will yet, in fulfillment of God's prophecy, de- 
liver it to those servants, who will have culminated into 
seven future prophetic churches, who will then hear 
" what the Spirit saith to the churches." These angels 
are pointed out to us as beginning at the seven 
churches of Asia in this prophecy, and they have 
shown they existed all through the ages of the past 
by the noise they have made and the light they have 
shown to the world, by their proclamation and re- 

366 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

proclamation of many great truths which were des- 
tined by God for all; and by the further indisputable 
fact that they have delivered to us the very book 
written by John and placed at the fountain head 
whence they started. From the further fact that the 
people addressed have never yet lived, none have ever 
read the message. The angels, or messengers, of God 
in the past have not only proclaimed many truths for 
the development and growth of the people of the past, 
but they have in faithfulness brought to this age of the 
world a full message from God. The last book of 
this message has been unread through the past ages, 
and which we, in our inability to read and correctly 
apply to ourselves, if this proves true, will forward on 
its destined course from the seven churches of Asia 
to the next generation as a message not addressed to 
us, but which may be for them. If it was not writ- 
ten by God to this generation, then we, in faithful- 
ness to God and under his unerring providence, will 
leave it in the hands of the next generation, and so on 
down the line in the future years until it will reach 
the hands of those to whom it was written by God over 
eighteen centuries ago. They will read it, compre- 
hend and apply it at the time or shortly before its 
first event begins and shortly before its last event 
which they will be shown will end. Thus the long line, 
not of church succession, but of messenger succession 
(as these scriptures show), will be found unbroken 
between the seven churches of Asia and seven provin- 
cial churches who are addressed therein and who will 
yet exist and be shown its things. It is written and 
addressed to free-thinking Christians first, as angels 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

from the seven churches of Asia, and then, at the end 
of this long chain, to seven churches amid whom 
Christ will yet stand. These angels and churches, 
these two states of God's people, will be found meet- 
ing each other in the future, as the vision shows. 
When the angels of the seven churches of Asia, who 
will live in the future, read the message of God 
brought to them by the hand of their predecessors, 
then will the end of the messenger chain be found, 
and then the angels who are addressed, by the provi- 
dence and infinite power of the word of God, will be 
separated from the world and again formed into 
churches, in which the " eyes of the blind will be 
opened, and the tongues of the dumb shall sing," as 
they did in the apostolic age. 

By this revelation we can now look back to the 
seven churches of Asia as the last of God's people who 
were ever united into perfect local organic bodies by 
the same spirit of oneness and concord, the gift of the 
Holy Spirit, which remained with them and illumi- 
nated their bodies to the day the full message of God 
from the last apostle on earth was laid upon them. 
From that day to this God's people have borne his 
word to the nations and tongues of earth, as they 
were predestined to do, and they have roamed in a 
spiritual world without a promise not found and em- 
braced in the three words, " faith, hope, charity," 
which still " abide." Their life work and names have 
been engraved by the infinite wisdom of God in the 
luminous celestial appellations, " angels," " stars." 

When God's message to man was complete, the oil 
of inspiration ceased to bear light on the earth. His 

368 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

people were left, as it were, in the infancy of the 
kingdom of God to fight and battle for the exist- 
ence of that kingdom ; they were left with his 
wise providence and all-powerful word. By his un- 
failing providence and care they will, with his word, 
meet their God-appointed destiny by a culmination into 
the " man child " of prophecy ; and in their life of loy- 
alty to the word of God they will break the kingdom 
of earth as the vessels of a potter, wade through an 
ocean of anarchy, escape the future revolutions of the 
nations, merge into seven churches, and in triumph 
meet their Savior at Mount Zion when he shall de- 
scend from the skies at God's appointed time in the 
ages. Christ will then and there stand in the midst 
of seven golden candlesticks. 



24 369 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 



CHAPTER XXVL 



When May We Look for the Scenes of the 
Apocalypse to Transpire and the Coming of Christ 
to Reign on Earth a Thousand Years? 

Does the Bible teach God's people to look for and 
expect the coming of Christ and the end of the world 
as it now is and as it has been at any time and all times 
during the past eighteen centuries? God himself 
knew that Christ would not come to earth during all 
these ages. Therefore, in harmony with the lessons of 
the preceding chapters, we may rest assured that God 
has never taught his people to look for the coming of 
Christ to earth at any or all times through the cen- 
turies to take vengeance upon his enemies or reward 
his servants or begin his reign of universal righteous- 
ness for a thousand years. For Christ to come to 
earth with the armies of heaven and otherwise, 
as he will come, to fulfill the prophecies of his 
kingdom, is one thing; for him to come to indi- 
vidual Christians is quite another thing. When 
men die, time ceases and all things are present in 
eternity. When we die, the great day of the Lord 
is at hand without the intervention of a moment's 
time, for in eternity there is no time either in sleep or 
consciousness. We can look for the coming of the 

370 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

Lord and the end of the world at the moment of 
death, as far as individuals are concerned, and we can 
do so with a perfect assurance that it will not be in 
vain. We, like the primitive Christians, are in that 
sense looking for the coming of the Lord at any day 
or hour, and we are fully persuaded he will meet us 
at the first glimpse of the shores of eternity, which 
will be at the hour of our death. Let us realize 
that at the hour of death we may enter upon a state 
of dreamless sleep, which, though it might last through 
ten thousand years of earthly time, is not as long 
as the twinkling of an eye in the measureless ages of 
eternity. 

Time enters not and cannot enter eternity or into the 
things of immortality. At the first moment of conscious- 
ness beyond the hour of death, in that great morning 
of the resurrection, men and women of this age of the 
world will be in the presence of the Lord and stand 
at the judgment bar. In this sense we may and must 
look for the coming of the Lord Jesus during every 
hour of our life, for we know not at what hour death 
will carry us into the realms of eternity, where, with- 
out the intervention of time, we will meet the Lord 
and be in his presence and see his appearing. Paul 
says : " To be absent from the body [or to die] is to 
be at home with the Lord." 

The time for the coming of Christ does not appear 
to have been known by inspired men. They were in- 
fallible, and could not have made such a mistake as 
to look for him in their day in any other sense than at 
death. But the apostle Paul did advise the servants 
of Christ not to be troubled by the fallacious teaching 

371 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

that the coming of Christ was imminent or at hand at 
the time he wrote them. He says : " Now we beseech 
you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, and our gathering together unto him ; to the 
end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor 
yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by 
epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is just 
at hand ; let no man beguile you in any wise." (2 
Thess. 2: 1-3.) Paul here admonishes them to let no 
false spirit or word or letter as though from him 
trouble or move them as to the coming of Christ being 
" just at hand." When the coming of Christ is " just 
at hand," he tells them how they can know this fact. 
He says of that coming : " For it will not be, except 
the falling away come first, and the man of sin be 
revealed, the son of perdition, he that opposeth and 
exalteth himself against all that is called God or that 
is worshiped ; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, 
setting himself forth as God." (2 Thess. 2: 3, 4.) 

In the above scripture Paul places the " falling 
away " and the manifestation of this " man of sin " 
beyond any doubt at the very time the coming of 
Christ is at hand, or when it becomes imminent. In 
other words, Paul tells us in the Thessalonian letter 
that when we see " the falling away " and " the man 
of sin " presenting himself as a false Christ or Savior 
or as God, Christ's coming will be at hand — be immi- 
nent. These scriptures are not at all ambiguous, and 
it appears that we all should understand them alike. 
Nothing but a fallacious theory can cause us to apply 
this scripture to the Roman Church, for that church 
never had any miraculous powers whatever. The 

372 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

strength of sin will, when it reaches its greatness in a 
human kingdom presided over by men endowed with 
most extraordinary supernatural power, suppress the 
worship of the God of the Bible and cause a great 
falling away by the exercise of these signs and won- 
ders, which will be so great that it would be able to 
include even the elect in this falling away, if it were 
possible. 

These scriptures plainly tell us that "the falling 
away " and the appearance of " the man of sin " will 
not be manifest on earth until the coming of Christ is 
at hand. We must believe this is true, because Paul 
says it is true. 

Under the ever presence of the unfailing providence 
of God, " the falling away " and the manifestation of 
" the man of sin " will be restrained and held back 
until God's own wisdom and righteousness shall pre- 
sent it. This may be many centuries ; but when 
that time shall come, no one knows ; but it will 
be immediately before and at the coming of Christ, 
when the infinitely great and wise God of the Bible 
shall so decree. "And then shall be revealed the law- 
less one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the 
breath of his mouth, and bring to naught by the mani- 
festation of his coming." (2 Thess. 2:8.) 

" The falling away," " the man of sin," and the 
coming of Christ are grouped together. Therefore, 
Paul shows that the restoration, if indeed there be 
such a thing, as is talked about, is accomplished by 
Christ and not by any mortal man. Thus we see this 
false Christ, this " man of sin," or the strength of 
sin, who comes with " the falling away " from the 

2>7Z 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

worship of the God of the Bible, will be here and be 
destroyed by Christ at his coming. 

These scriptures instruct us to let no man beguile 
us in any manner as touching the coming of Christ, for 
they show us that Christ will not come before the 
earth is ablaze with the mightiest miracles ever seen or 
to be seen by men on earth. 

Let us sum up briefly a few of the things investi- 
gated in previous chapters which show some of the 
great events which must come to pass before the com- 
ing of Christ is at hand. 

1. A time will come before the coming of Christ 
when the spirit and power of democracy will be uni- 
versal and supreme on the whole earth, and no man 
will be allowed to wear a crown or be called " king," 
" prince," or " emperor." 

2. The first universal reign of democracy or repub- 
licanism will be a paternal government and will own 
every dollar's worth of wealth on the whole earth. 
This is the God-appointed destiny of popular sover- 
eignty, or democracy, as introduced into the world by 
the Roman empire, and is appointed by God to take 
place before the coming of Christ. 

3. Two monarchial forms of government will fol- 
low a universal reign of democracy. The kingdoms, 
or forms of government, introduced by Greece and 
Medo-Persia will each have a universal reign before 
the coming of Christ, as we have seen in previous 
chapters. 

4. The kingdom, or form of government, introduced 
by Medo-Persia, with its immutable laws, will yet rule 
every tribe and nation and tongue of earth before the 

374 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

coming of Christ. With it will come the great pro- 
phetic tribulations referred to by Christ and Daniel 
and placed with " the falling away " by Paul. These 
are fully delineated by the great and beloved apostle 
John in the Apocalypse and found in previous chap- 
ters of this volume. They will be fulfilled before the 
coming of Christ. 

5. The kingdom, or form of government, a mo- 
narchial government, introduced by Greece, will be the 
last human kingdom to have a universal reign on earth, 
and it will be here and will be destroyed by Christ at 
his coming. 

6. During the universal reign of these three king- 
doms the earth will be ablaze with the most stupen- 
dous miracles, and they cover about twenty-three hun- 
dred days, or nearly seven years. 

7. Before the coming of Christ and before the rise 
of either of the three above-named universal reigns 
the first great universal kingdom will arise. The 
duration of the time of its existence is not revealed. 
It may continue for many centuries. It will em- 
brace every nation of earth (see Rev. 18: 3), 
and is equipped by its vast power to fill the earth 
with the most intense and uninterrupted peace for 
numberless years and centuries, if it is used by men to 
do so. It is a federation of all the kingdoms of earth 
under one and the same constitution, as shown by its 
symbol, a "beast," which has but one constitution. 
Its fall and latter end alone is given, as we have fully 
seen, in Rev. 17 and 18 ; and it is as impossible to tell 
how long it will exist as it is to tell how old God is. 

•Therefore it is just that impossible to tell when Christ 

375 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

will come. There has probably been more nonsense 
written in setting the time and prophesying the year 
of the coming of Christ, and in that manner degrading 
the God of the Bible and his word, than in almost any 
other unrevealed thing. At the fall of this kingdom it 
will have been taken over by religious infidels, who will 
turn the denominational names into " names of blas- 
phemy " by driving out of them every true Christian. 
This great universal kingdom will also, at the time of 
her fall, have assumed all the characteristics of ancient 
Babylon and will be called " Babylon the Great." In 
her dominion will be found every tribe, nation, and 
tongue of earth. But in her great and vast dominion 
described by Daniel as extending to " wheresoever 
the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, or the chil- 
dren of men may dwell," there will not be a man able 
to hold the reins of any government on earth who is 
not a professed believer in the Christian religion. 

8. These prophecies, as is clearly shown in previous 
chapters of this volume, point to a time before the 
coming of Christ — that the dominion of the Turk, the 
Japanese, the Chinese, and all other nonprofessors of 
the Christian faith, must be converted or lay down 
the scepter at the feet of the Christendom ruler. 

When we see the growth and spread of the power 
of the fourth kingdom, the power of popular sover- 
eignty, the power of democracy — when we see it year 
by year, decade by decade, and century by century ful- 
filling its God-appointed prophetic destiny, " breaking 
and bruising," modifying, changing, and mutilating 
the prerogatives of the monarchies of earth, we can- 
not but believe that the man who can thus see the 

376 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

hand of God in the affairs of the nations of earth is 
indeed blessed and will be blessed in " reading and 
hearing the word of the prophecy and keeping [treas- 
uring in his heart] the things that are written therein." 

In like manner when we behold the expansion of 
the Christian faith and the spread of the dominion of 
earthly rulers professing that faith, all in perfect ac- 
cord and harmony with the revealed prophecy of God, 
it exalts our love and intensifies our faith in the over- 
ruling providence of the God of the Bible and enables 
us to know from our own experience that those who 
possess that knowledge are blessed and will be blessed 
in a stronger and more real faith than it is possible 
for him to be who is not versed in the reading. 

John wrote nothing in the Revelation, as we have 
seen, but the things which "must shortly come to 
pass." (Rev. 1:1.) Therefore none of the things in 
the Revelation had come to pass when the book was 
written, for things which " must " come to pass are 
prophetic things and embrace none of the things which 
have come to pass. Therefore the following proph- 
ecy of Christ had not come to pass at the death of 
Paul, for it is placed in the Revelation. Christ says : 
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days the 
sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her 
light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the 
powers of the heavens shall be shaken : and then shall 
appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven : and then 
shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall 
see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven 
with power and great glory. And he shall send forth 
his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they 

377 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

shall gather together his elect from the four winds, 
from one end of heaven to the other." (Matt. 24: 
29-31.) Paul knew of this prophecy of Christ, and 
he knew it would transpire literally before he could 
look for the coming of Christ, and he knew perfectly 
well it had not transpired when he wrote to the Thes- 
salonians. 

We find these events had not even occurred at the 
time the book of Revelation was written, for they are 
described in that book. John says : "And the sun be- 
came black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon 
became as blood ; and the stars of the heaven fell unto 
the earth, as a fig tree casteth her unripe figs when 
she is shaken of a great wind." (Rev. 6: 12, 13.) 
This event has never transpired, and it is grouped with 
the coming of Christ (Rev. 1: 1), and we need not 
look for the coming of Christ until we see these things. 
We know that Christ will not come to-morrow or this 
year or next year, as well as we know that God's 
word is true, and any Christian for eighteen centuries 
could have known it. When we read what Christ 
said to his apostles (Matt. 24: 12) of the many signs 
of his coming, and when we see these great events 
detailed and described and spread over about seven 
years by the beloved apostle John in the Apocalypse 
and know beyond the shadow of a doubt that not one 
of them has ever been fulfilled, we say, with the full 
assurance of faith and with the greatest confidence 
in the integrity, the infallibility, and the divinity of 
God's word, that Christ will not come until all these 
events are fulfilled. They are given in his Revela- 
tion and rest upon the divine word, which will stand 

378 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

forever. They will precede his coming and be ful- 
filled before he comes to fulfill the prophecy of his 
reign on earth for a thousand years. 

We thank God that the history does not reveal the 
time when these fearful scenes are predestinated to 
take place ; not even an inspired man has ever known 
the time. They are all listed to transpire in a brief 
period of time in the future and grouped with the 
coming of Christ. They are placed in an age when 
every popular interest, including the remnant of de- 
nominational religion, will be put in the hands of 
world-wide trusts. The first scene in the Apocalypse, 
as we have seen, embraces a federation of the denomi- 
nations, which will dominate and rule within a fed- 
eral league every nation, tribe, and tongue of earth. 
This is a universal trust, a world-wide combine of 
every secular and religious interest on the earth except 
the church of God. The church itself stands out in 
bold separation, but encompasses every Christian on 
the earth in perfect union. 

Tell us how long it will take a federation of 
churches to acquire the power and hardihood to hold 
the reins of government over seven great nations, and 
by their power erect and enforce a universal religious 
creed over every nation, tribe, and tongue of earth, 
and we will then be able to approximate the time for 
the fall and dissolution of Christendom and the com- 
ing of Christ. Tell us when this mighty religious 
queen will be able to appropriate under her scarlet and 
purple robe the wealth and riches of Christendom, the 
armies and navies, the martial powers of all the earth, 
then we will be able to intelligently approximate the 

379 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

days before the advent of Christ and the beginning 
of the millennium. Not until this picture is complete 
can any one point with any definiteness to the time 
for the fall and dissolution of the institutions of Chris- 
tendom or the coming of Christ. When this great 
combination is formed and it attains to this, its des- 
tined power and greatness, the people of God will then 
be able to number the days and months which will in- 
tervene before Christ stands on ]\Iount Zion " in the 
midst of seven golden candlesticks." 

We have no theory upon this subject. The Bible 
itself is absolutely silent prior to this beginning. We 
doubt not that every scene in the whole Apocalypse 
is in the future and that they are grouped with the 
coming of Christ. AVe know as well as we know we 
have correctly read these symbols and that the Bible is 
true that Christ will not come to earth in the next 
seven years. We know this as Avell as we know every 
event revealed in the Apocalypse will transpire before 
and with his coming, and that they cover a period of a 
little over seven years. They have not yet begun, and 
they may not for centuries. We doubt not, even with 
our limited understanding of these prophetic revela- 
tions, that this conclusion is in harmony with every 
statement in the New Testament as well as with the 
prophecies of the Old Testament ; that they all join in 
the declaration that " every plant not planted by God," 
every institution now on the earth, except the church 
of Christ, will pass away before the coming of Christ — 
will pass away with the fall and dissolution of Chris- 
tendom. The complete dissolution of every institution 
of Christendom will take place and be completed a few 

380 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

months before the beginning of Christ's reign on earth 
for a thousand years. He has never promised to reign 
over the institutions of Christendom, and not one of 
them will be here at his coming. 

Christ, pointing to these great events, said : " Now 
from the fig tree learn her parable : when her branch 
is now become tender, and putteth forth its leaves, ye 
know that the summer is nigh ; even so ye also, when 
ye see all these things, know ye that he is nigh, even 
at the doors." (Matt. 24 : 32, 33.) 

We confidently expect these great tribulations which 
are destined to come upon the world will be fulfilled 
in God's own time. These great spiritual powers may 
array their forces upon the earth even by the end of 
another century or two or in a shorter time. No one 
can know the time. They will, in their magnitude and 
stupendous greatness, fulfill the great prophetic tribu- 
lations of earth, shock the universe of God, shake the 
powers of heaven and earth, gather the forces of every 
doctrine and wind of the centuries into one gigantic 
spiritual tornado, which will sweep the earth, bring 
wreck and ruin to every institution which has been 
propagated and cherished by man through the ages. 
It would be pleasanter to believe these mighty scenes 
of tribulations and wretchedness were in the past or 
that they would never come upon the earth. Man may 
not choose. The wisdom of God has predestinated the 
end, and, in his goodness and great mercy to man, he 
has hidden the time for their fulfillment and revealed 
nothing but the ripened conditions, which will precede 
the harvest, which he has fixed at and shortly after the 
fall and dissolution of Christendom. The duty of man 

381 



THE HISTORY OF THE FALL AND 

is to read and hear and be blessed by the knowledge. 
Let us eagerly and with an honorable covetousness 
hasten" on in attaining that knowledge, that we may 
perchance be among the good providential angels of 
God in delivering a better-digested revelation to those 
who will succeed us, that they may the more surely 
look to the Christ of the Bible as their guide in these 
days of sorrow. Christ himself is the benevolent and 
wise giver of this revelation from Jehovah, as well as 
the author of the salvation of man in all the ages. 
He is the Prince of peace and of life eternal, the giver 
of strength and gladness to his people in works of 
righteousness which flow like joyous rivers from the 
endless and eternally living fountains of faith, hope, 
and love. Let the reader join in the Christlike toil 
and labor and help a future generation to a knowledge 
of the flaming scenes and crimson-arrayed events, 
which are laid nearer their threshold than ours, which 
may not be needed by us, but which will be by them. 
Call it not an impracticable labor. Union among God's 
people can never be reached before the Apocalypse is 
read. God has predestinated, fixed, and revealed this 
fact. In its very first scene every Christian on earth 
is presented in one body of glorious light. (See Rev. 
12: 1.) 

From a knowledge of the scenes of the Apocalypse 
will come a renewed and reenergized faith, which will 
turn aside the assault of unbelief, adorn God's people 
in union and righteousness, lead a future age of our 
sons and daughters in all the strength of glorious pro- 
phetic white-robed manhood to deploy in an interna- 
tional phalanx, moving forward, conquering and to 

382 



DISSOLUTION OF CHRISTENDOM 

conquer the prophetic red-robed sin of the world, 
which will then be tenting on the earth in " the full- 
ness of transgressions." Call not the study of these 
great future events vanity. Your correct translation 
of a symbolic scene may be the rock of refuge upon 
which a son or a daughter may securely stand and 
behold the distress of nations " in perplexity for the 
roaring of the sea and the billows " when the nations 
are fallen. A man may toil and labor through the 
years of a lifetime, may acquire the gold of the fairy- 
land of dreams, may secure the wealth of the magnate 
of a modern financial trust — when he has done this, 
he has secured a crown of vanity, a fading diadem of 
Christendom. It perisheth, is swept aside, is lost in a 
day ; but he who acquires and digests even a minimum 
of the great knowledge of these future colossal com- 
bines hath enriched not only himself, but his neigh- 
bor, and left to his progeny a priceless, incorruptible, 
and imperishable heritage. The Apocalypse can be 
read; it is a revelation. Its study is not useless. It 
is not in vain, neither is it the work of a theorist or to 
be confounded with idiocratic expostulations. Rea- 
son and logic, clothed in poorness of spirit, are the 
God-predestinated powers which will loosen its flood- 
gates of knowledge and cover the earth with its light 
like the waters cover the depth of the sea. 

THE END. 



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